About

Michael Haberman is an Associate Professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, with a joint appointment at the Applied Research Laboratories UT Austin. He holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, obtained in 2007 and 2001 respectively, and a Diplôme de Doctorat in Engineering Mechanics from the Université de Lorraine in Metz, France, earned in 2006. His undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering was completed at the University of Idaho in 2000. Dr. Haberman's research interests are centered on elastic and acoustic wave propagation in complex media, acoustic metamaterials, new acoustic transduction materials, ultrasonic nondestructive testing, and vibro-acoustic transducers. His current research focuses on modeling, design, and testing of composite materials, metamaterials, and architected media. His work finds application in areas such as the absorption and isolation of acoustical, vibrational, and impulsive energy using negative stiffness and Willis coupling, devices utilizing non-reciprocal acoustic and elastic wave phenomena, and condition monitoring of lithium-ion batteries through ultrasonic methods. He is a Fellow of The Acoustical Society of America and has served two terms as the chair of the Technical Committee on Engineering Acoustics from 2018 to 2024.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Physics
• Acoustics
• Psychology
• Optics
• Engineering
• Data science
• Engineering ethics

Selected publications

• Review of ultrasonic methods for monitoring, damage detection, and processing of lithium-ion batteries throughout their life-cycle

  ArXiv.org · 2026-01-12

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the leading technology used in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and grid-level electrochemical energy storage applications. The ever-increasing use of LIBs has highlighted a gap in understanding of their behavior throughout their life-cycle. Current monitoring systems rely on electrical and sometimes temperature measurements to assess the internal state which limits information about complex electrochemical processes. In response, ultrasonic testing (UT) has shown promise for non-invasive assessment due to its ease of use and sensitivity to mechanical changes which are correlated with electrochemical changes within the battery. We summarize the research in UT methods applied to LIBs throughout their life-cycle and the relevant techniques at each stage. We also discuss physics-based and data-driven modeling approaches used to interpret ultrasonic signals in the context of LIBs, with an emphasis on the existing challenge of establishing rigorous links between electrochemical behavior and elastic and poroelastic wave physics to gain insight regarding physical changes in the LIB that can be directly measured using UT. Finally, we discuss the challenges of implementing UT across the LIB life-cycle and identify opportunities for further research. This review aims to provide helpful guidance to researchers and practitioners of UT in the growing field of UT for electrochemical battery systems.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Review of ultrasonic methods for monitoring, damage detection, and processing of lithium-ion batteries throughout their life-cycle

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2026-01-12

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the leading technology used in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and grid-level electrochemical energy storage applications. The ever-increasing use of LIBs has highlighted a gap in understanding of their behavior throughout their life-cycle. Current monitoring systems rely on electrical and sometimes temperature measurements to assess the internal state which limits information about complex electrochemical processes. In response, ultrasonic testing (UT) has shown promise for non-invasive assessment due to its ease of use and sensitivity to mechanical changes which are correlated with electrochemical changes within the battery. We summarize the research in UT methods applied to LIBs throughout their life-cycle and the relevant techniques at each stage. We also discuss physics-based and data-driven modeling approaches used to interpret ultrasonic signals in the context of LIBs, with an emphasis on the existing challenge of establishing rigorous links between electrochemical behavior and elastic and poroelastic wave physics to gain insight regarding physical changes in the LIB that can be directly measured using UT. Finally, we discuss the challenges of implementing UT across the LIB life-cycle and identify opportunities for further research. This review aims to provide helpful guidance to researchers and practitioners of UT in the growing field of UT for electrochemical battery systems.

  PublisherDOI

• Acoustic radiation force exerted by progressive waves on subwavelength inhomogeneous scatterers

  The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2026-04-01

  article

  The acoustic radiation force exerted by plane progressive waves with wavenumber k on a scatterer of characteristic size a is calculated in the Born approximation using Westervelt's far-field integral [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 29, 26-29 (1957), Eq. (2)]. In the subwavelength limit ka≪1 of the Born approximation, closed-form analytical expressions for the radiation force are obtained in terms of acoustic polarizabilities, which represent the response of the scatterer to dipole order. For subwavelength scatterers whose relative compressibility and density are even functions about their centroid, Gor'kov's O[(ka)4] force [Sov. Phys. Dokl. 6, 773-775 (1962), Eq. (10)] is recovered, whereas the radiation force on scatterers characterized by odd distributions is O[(ka)6]. Radiation forces on homogeneous and inhomogeneous spheres and cubes are considered as examples, for which the analytical expressions agree with solutions based on spherical wave expansions and Fourier transforms for ka≲0.8. The present work complements the volume integral obtained by Jerome and Hamilton [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 150, 3417-3427 (2021), Eq. (16)] for the radiation force exerted by standing waves in the subwavelength limit of the Born approximation.

  PublisherDOI

• The Chebyshev Polynomial Series Frequency Modulation Model for Waveform Design and Analysis

  ArXiv.org · 2026-03-02

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Polynomial phase signals (PPS) are a staple of waveform design and analysis in sonar, radar, and communications fields. They also find application in the modeling of bioacoustic emissions, especially those of echolocating animals such as bats and odontocetes. This work presents a novel PPS waveform formulation that exploits some special properties of Chebyshev polynomials, such as orthogonality, recurrence relations, and equivalence to trigonometric functions. The result is the Chebyshev Polynomial Frequency Modulation (CPSFM) family of waveforms, which prove useful in the modeling of bioacoustic signals and the approximation of non-polynomial-phase signals such as hyperbolic chirps. We demonstrate that the CPSFM model admits compact analytic expressions for fundamental continuous-time signal processing functions such as the Fourier transform, the convolution and correlation operations, and the ambiguity function. Derivations for these expressions using CPSFM are presented, along with their application to the analysis of biosonar emissions of Mexican free-tailed bats.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Grounded reconfigurable metamaterials with customized mapping-invariant behavior

  Nature Communications · 2026-05-19

  articleOpen access

  Mechanical behavior of synthetic materials depends on their microstructure and geometric configurations. This dependency leads to unintended performance when the material remaps its microstructures for shape reconfigurations, such as diminished rigidity in unfolded aerospace morphing structures and reduced sensitivity in twisted soft sensors. Breaking this dependency through material design to improve overall performance has been a long-standing challenge. This work develops a transformation method to design a class of grounded metamaterials that decouples mechanical behavior from microstructure and shape reconfigurations. We fabricate these metamaterials and experimentally demonstrate both configuration-mapping-invariant displacement behavior and unconventional displacement control functions that have not previously been observed. We identify two physical principles that underpin the useful, but counterintuitive behavior: (i) Mapping-invariant displacement fields are the result of body torques that automatically balance non-concurrent internal forces from microstructure reconfigurations; (ii) Tailored displacement control functions are determined by Willis springs pinned to the ground. As a result, the grounded metamaterials are shown to enable the design of highly reconfigurable material systems that demonstrate tailored deformation behavior regardless of their microscopic and geometric configurations.

  PublisherDOI

• Metamaterials and Fluid Flows

  Nature Communications · 2026-03-04 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Understanding and controlling the dynamic interactions between fluid flows and solid materials and structures-a field known as fluid-structure interaction-is central not only to established disciplines such as aerospace and naval engineering, but also to emerging technologies such as energy harvesting, soft robotics, and biomedical devices. In recent years, the advent of metamaterials has provided exciting opportunities to rethink and redesign fluid-structure interactions. The idea of engineering the internal structure of materials that interface with fluid flows opens a new horizon for the precise and effective manipulation and control of coupled fluidic, acoustic, and elastodynamic responses. This review focuses on this relatively unexplored interdisciplinary theme with broad technological significance. Salient potential applications, such as reduction of fuel consumption in transport systems, efficiency of renewable energy extraction, noise mitigation, and resilience against structural fatigue, depend on controlling interactions among flow, acoustic, and vibration mechanisms. Flow control, for example, which spans a wealth of regimes such as laminar, transitional, turbulent, and unsteady separated flows, is strongly influenced by fluid-structure interaction. This review surveys and discusses conceptual frameworks that describe the interplay between fluids and elastic solids, with a focus on contemporary and emerging concepts. The paper is organised into three main sections: fluid-structure and flow-phonon interactions, flow-induced acoustic interactions with metamaterials, and exotic metamaterial concepts with potential impact on fluid-structure interaction. It concludes with perspectives on current challenges and future directions in this rapidly expanding area of research.

  PublisherDOI

• The Chebyshev Polynomial Series Frequency Modulation Model for Waveform Design and Analysis

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2026-03-02

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Polynomial phase signals (PPS) are a staple of waveform design and analysis in sonar, radar, and communications fields. They also find application in the modeling of bioacoustic emissions, especially those of echolocating animals such as bats and odontocetes. This work presents a novel PPS waveform formulation that exploits some special properties of Chebyshev polynomials, such as orthogonality, recurrence relations, and equivalence to trigonometric functions. The result is the Chebyshev Polynomial Frequency Modulation (CPSFM) family of waveforms, which prove useful in the modeling of bioacoustic signals and the approximation of non-polynomial-phase signals such as hyperbolic chirps. We demonstrate that the CPSFM model admits compact analytic expressions for fundamental continuous-time signal processing functions such as the Fourier transform, the convolution and correlation operations, and the ambiguity function. Derivations for these expressions using CPSFM are presented, along with their application to the analysis of biosonar emissions of Mexican free-tailed bats.

  PublisherDOI

• Introduction to the special issue on active and tunable acoustic metamaterials

  The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2026-03-01

  articleSenior author

  Acoustic metamaterials are a class of architected materials with dynamic properties that are designed at the sub-wavelength scale to achieve exotic or unique macroscopic response. Although early concepts of acoustic metamaterials relied on static configurations, recent research has further expanded the limits of acoustic customization by incorporating active or tunable responses. This article provides an introduction to the special issues of The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America and JASA Express Letters on active and tunable acoustic metamaterials and begins with a brief description of the general categories of active control and tunable response included in the contributions to the special issue and, then, provides a brief description of the articles in this special issue, grouped by general category, and how the research presented in these works contribute to the advancement of acoustic metamaterial research.

  PublisherDOI

• Dynamic direction-dependent mode coupling in elastic metamaterial plates

  The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2025-10-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Elastic plates support a spectrum of guided-wave modes known as Rayleigh-Lamb waves. Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theory are well-known approximate models that are often employed to describe wave motion of the lowest order symmetric and antisymmetric modes. However, these theories make simplifying assumptions that can yield non-physical interpretation of experimental observations in structured plates that are the subject of elastic metamaterials [Lee and Kim, Smart Mater. Struct., 32 123001 (2023)]. This work investigates direction-dependent coupling between modes in elastic plates containing resonant asymmetric scatterers and discusses the limitations of approximate theories. We first discuss restrictions imposed by reciprocity for direction-dependent scattering in passive multi-mode elastic wave systems generalized to Lamb modes of arbitrary order. We then present a finite element model case study of an elastic beam containing a resonant asymmetric scatterer yielding direction-dependent coupling of symmetric and antisymmetric modes. Constitutive relationships of the Willis form are then proposed and implemented in Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories in order to consider coupling between strain and momentum fields using analytical models. Discrepancies between these two theories are discussed based on constraints imposed by reciprocity, and we show that Timoshenko theory is required to capture direction-dependent mode coupling.

  PublisherDOI

• Metamaterials and Fluid Flows

  ArXiv.org · 2025-09-04

  preprintOpen access

  Understanding and controlling the dynamic interactions between fluid flows and solid materials and structures—a field known as fluid-structure interaction—is central not only to established disciplines such as aerospace and naval engineering, but also to emerging technologies such as energy harvesting, soft robotics, and biomedical devices. In recent years, the advent of metamaterials has provided exciting opportunities to rethink and redesign fluid-structure interactions. The idea of engineering the internal structure of materials that interface with fluid flows opens a new horizon for the precise and effective manipulation and control of coupled fluidic, acoustic, and elastodynamic responses. This review focuses on this relatively unexplored interdisciplinary theme with broad technological significance. Salient potential applications, such as reduction of fuel consumption in transport systems, efficiency of renewable energy extraction, noise mitigation, and resilience against structural fatigue, depend on controlling interactions among flow, acoustic, and vibration mechanisms. Flow control, for example, which spans a wealth of regimes such as laminar, transitional, turbulent, and unsteady separated flows, is strongly influenced by fluid-structure interaction. This review surveys and discusses conceptual frameworks that describe the interplay between fluids and elastic solids, with a focus on contemporary and emerging concepts. The paper is organised into three main sections: fluid-structure and flow-phonon interactions, flow-induced acoustic interactions with metamaterials, and exotic metamaterial concepts with potential impact on fluid-structure interaction. It concludes with perspectives on current challenges and future directions in this rapidly expanding area of research.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Samuel P. Wallen

  Applied Research Laboratories, The University of Texas at Austin

  102 shared

• Benjamin M. Goldsberry

  The University of Texas at Austin

  79 shared

• Mark F. Hamilton

  The University of Texas at Austin

  66 shared

• Preston S. Wilson

  55 shared

• Andrea Alù

  49 shared

• Carolyn Conner Seepersad

  46 shared

• Andrew N. Norris

  40 shared

• Colby W. Cushing

  The University of Texas at Austin

  36 shared

Education

• B.S., Mechanical Engineering

  University of Idaho

  2000

• M.S., Mechanical Engineering

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  2001

• Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  2007

• Other, Engineering Mechanics

  Université de Lorraine

  2006

Awards & honors

• Fluor Centennial Teaching Fellowship in Engineering