Alan McGaughey

About

Alan McGaughey is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where he also holds a courtesy appointment in Materials Science and Engineering. He leads the Nanoscale Transport Phenomena Laboratory, which focuses on understanding the transport of mass, momentum, and energy at the atomic level by studying the behavior of phonons, photons, electrons, and fluid particles. His research integrates mechanical engineering with physics, materials science, and chemistry, employing molecular- and meso-scale simulation techniques and collaborating closely with experimental research groups. McGaughey received his Bachelor of Engineering from McMaster University in 1998, a Master of Applied Science from the University of Toronto in 2000, and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2004. He joined Carnegie Mellon University in 2005. Throughout his career, he has been recognized for his excellence in teaching, winning the Teare Teaching Award in 2014 and being voted Professor of the Year by Mechanical Engineering seniors three times (2012, 2015, and 2017). His research encompasses methodology development such as molecular dynamics, lattice dynamics, density functional theory, and the Boltzmann transport equation to predict phonon properties and thermal conductivity. He also investigates thermal transport across nanostructures and interfaces, including metal and oxide interfaces, and studies hybrid organic-inorganic materials like metal-organic frameworks and…

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Composite material
• Materials science
• Thermodynamics
• Condensed matter physics
• Physics
• Optoelectronics
• Nanotechnology
• Physical chemistry
• Computer Science

Selected publications

• Thermally conductive ultra-low-k dielectric layers based on two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks

  Nature Materials · 2021 · 308 citations

  DOI

• Observation of reduced thermal conductivity in a metal-organic framework due to the presence of adsorbates

  Nature Communications · 2020 · 168 citations

  Whether the presence of adsorbates increases or decreases thermal conductivity in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has been an open question. Here we report observations of thermal transport in the metal-organic framework HKUST-1 in the presence of various liquid adsorbates: water, methanol, and ethanol. Experimental thermoreflectance measurements were performed on single crystals and thin films, and theoretical predictions were made using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the thermal…

  DOI

• High-throughput screening of hypothetical metal-organic frameworks for thermal conductivity

  npj Computational Materials · 2023 · 103 citations

  Abstract Thermal energy management in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is an important, yet often neglected, challenge for many adsorption-based applications such as gas storage and separations. Despite its importance, there is insufficient understanding of the structure-property relationships governing thermal transport in MOFs. To provide a data-driven perspective into these relationships, here we perform large-scale computational screening of thermal conductivity k in MOFs, leveraging classica…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• XGBoost model for electrocaloric temperature change prediction in ceramics

  npj Computational Materials · 2022 · 61 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Abstract An eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) machine learning model is built to predict the electrocaloric (EC) temperature change of a ceramic based on its composition (encoded by Magpie elemental properties), dielectric constant, Curie temperature, and characterization conditions. A dataset of 97 EC ceramics is assembled from the experimental literature. By sampling data from clusters in the feature space, the model can achieve a coefficient of determination of 0.77 and a root mean square e…

  DOI

• Intrinsically thermally conductive polymers

  Materials Horizons · 2024-01-01 · 43 citations

  review

  polymers can be realized by enhancing the alignment, crystallinity, and intermolecular interactions. While a holistic mechanistic framework does not yet exist for thermal transport in polymeric materials, contemporary literature suggests that phonon-like heat carriers may be operative in macromolecules that meet the abovementioned criteria. In this review, we offer a perspective on how high thermal conductivity polymers can be systematically engineered from this understanding. Reports for severa…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Thermal Transport in Large Unit Cell Crystals

  NSF · $330k · 2015–2019

• Phonon Transport Near and Across Seminductor Interfaces

  NSF · $300k · 2010–2013

• IDR - Carbon Nanotube Aerogel Networks for Next-Generation Thermal Management

  NSF · $966k · 2009–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Jonathan A. Malen

  63 shared

• Cristina H. Amon

  University of Toronto

  37 shared

• Wee‐Liat Ong

  35 shared

• Xavier Roy

  Columbia University

  30 shared

• Daniel W. Paley⧓

  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  29 shared

• C. Fred Higgs

  Rice University

  29 shared

• Patrick Dougherty

  26 shared

• E. S. Landry

  26 shared

Labs

• Nanoscale Transport Phenomena LaboratoryPI

  Understand the transport of mass, momentum, and energy at the atomic level by studying the behavior of phonons, photons, electrons, and fluid particles.

Education

• B.S.

  McMaster University

  1998

• M.S.

  University of Toronto

  2000

• Ph.D.

  University of Michigan

  2004

Awards & honors

• Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator P…
• Benjamin Richard Teare Teaching Award (2014)
• National Academy of Engineering's Frontiers of Engineering E…
• Professor of the Year by the Mechanical Engineering seniors…
• 2019 College of Engineering faculty award

Similar researchers at Carnegie Mellon University

• Philip LeDuch-50
• Jack Beuthh-41
• Maarten de Boerh-40