PhD Openings in Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University
About This Position:
There is an immediate opening for a self-motivated PhD student (in computational mechanics) for Fall
2026/Spring 2027 admission in the Aerospace Structures Reliability Laboratory at Auburn University,
working with Dr. Wen Luo.
Interested students should contact Dr. Wen Luo via E-mail at w-luo@auburn.edu with the following
required materials:
CV, Transcripts, TOFEL/IELTS, GRE, and a brief introduction of research interests.
Desirable PhD applicants may have a background in Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering
(Structures), Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering, and Applied Mathematics and Statistics.
Prior experience in computational mechanics, coding, and probability/statistics are strongly
preferred. A master’s degree in the related field is also preferred.
Research thrusts:
The Aerospace Structures Reliability Laboratory (ASRL) is poised to 1) push forward the understanding
of rare-event stochastic failures of advanced aerospace materials/structures, and to 2) design and
manufacture super reliable structures for extreme and uncertain environments. We seek to bring
together reliability engineering, solid mechanics, and advanced materials and structures for failure
risk modeling in various engineering applications.
About the PI:
Dr. Wen Luo is an Assistant Professor in Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University. He previously
held a postdoctoral appointment at the Space Structures Laboratory at California Institute of
Technology and earned his PhD from Northwestern University in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
Lab Website: https://sites.google.com/view/aerospace-reliability
About Auburn University:
Established in 1856, Auburn University is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. It
has a strong reputation in the field of Aerospace Engineering, which is consistently ranked among the
top 40 programs in the country.
Located only one and a half hours from Atlanta, the town of Auburn, Alabama offers loads of southern
hospitality in a tight-knit community as well as lots of natural recreational areas. It is ranked as one of
the Top 100 Best Places to Live in America.