Matthew Bryant
Associate Professor
Director of iSSRL: Intelligent Structures and Systems Research Lab

- 919-515-5298
- mbryant@ncsu.edu
- Engineering Building III (EB3) 3407
- Visit My Website
Dr. Bryant is interested in a multidisciplinary approach that combines smart materials, dynamical systems, and fluid-structure interaction phenomena to create novel systems for energy harvesting, sensing, and actuation.
In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Bryant enjoys outdoor activities including fishing, hiking, kayaking, and nature photography.
Education
Mechanical Engineering
Cornell University
Mechanical Engineering
Cornell University
Mechanical Engineering
Bucknell University
Research Description
Dr. Bryant's research seeks novel solutions and new devices that contribute to the advancement of emerging technologies in areas including ambient energy harvesting, fluid-structure interaction, and robot actuation and mobility. His work emphasizes a multi-disciplinary approach and encompasses both experimental and theoretical investigations. Of particular interest are applications that incorporate smart or adaptive materials and structures, as well as be bio-inspired designs. He is currently working on (1) energy harvesting from piezoelectric structures that driven by fluid-induced vibration or flutter instabilities, (2) aerodynamics of flapping and oscillating wings, (3) development of self-powered sensing/actuation systems, and (4) bio-inspired artificial muscles for robotics and prostheses. At the graduate level, Dr. Bryant plans to teach a course in smart materials systems. This course will introduce students to modeling, analysis, design, and applications of smart materials systems with applications to piezoelectrics, shape memory alloys, and electroactive polymers.
Publications
- Aeroelastic inverse: Estimation of aerodynamic loads during large amplitude limit cycle oscillations
- Kirschmeier, B., Pash, G., Gianikos, Z., Medina, A., Gopalarathnam, A., & Bryant, M. (2020), JOURNAL OF FLUIDS AND STRUCTURES, 98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfluidstructs.2020.103131
- Amplitude Annihilation in Wake-Influenced Aeroelastic Limit-Cycle Oscillations
- Kirschmeier, B. A., Gianikos, Z., Gopalarathnam, A., & Bryant, M. (2020), AIAA JOURNAL, 58(9), 4117–4127. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.J058942
- Design and testing of a centrifugal fluidic device for populating microarrays of spheroid cancer cell cultures
- Weisler, W., Miller, S., Jernigan, S., Buckner, G., & Bryant, M. (2020), JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13036-020-0228-6
- Dynamic Modeling for Bi-Modal, Rotary Wing, Rolling-Flying Vehicles
- Atay, S., Buckner, G., & Bryant, M. (2020), JOURNAL OF DYNAMIC SYSTEMS MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL-TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASME, 142(11). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4047693
- Dynamic Modeling of Passively Draining Structures for Aerial-Aquatic Unmanned Vehicles
- Stewart, W., Weisler, W., Anderson, M., Bryant, M., & Peters, K. (2020), IEEE JOURNAL OF OCEANIC ENGINEERING, 45(3), 840–850. https://doi.org/10.1109/JOE.2019.2898069
- Energetic analysis and optimization of a bi-modal rolling-flying vehicle
- Atay, S., Jenkins, T., Buckner, G., & Bryant, M. (2020), INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT ROBOTICS AND APPLICATIONS, 4(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41315-020-00119-2
- Limit cycle characterization of an aeroelastic wing in a bluff body wake
- Gianikos, Z. N., Kirschmeier, B. A., Gopalarathnam, A., & Bryant, M. (2020), JOURNAL OF FLUIDS AND STRUCTURES, 95(0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfluidstructs.2020.102986
- Pennate actuators: force, contraction and stiffness
- Jenkins, T., & Bryant, M. (2020), BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS, 15(4). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-3190/ab860f
- Analysis of tension-tunable clamped-clamped piezoelectric beams for harvesting energy from wind and vibration
- Chatterjee, P., & Bryant, M. (2019), JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT MATERIAL SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURES. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045389X19862390
- Bio-inspired orderly recruitment valve for fluidic articial muscles
- Vemula, D., & Bryant, M. (2019), BIOINSPIRATION, BIOMIMETICS, AND BIOREPLICATION IX. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2514413
Grants
- Control of Aeroelastic Structures via Prescribed Aerodynamic Disturbances
- National Science Foundation (NSF)(7/01/20 - 6/30/23)
- LEG-h: Long Endurance Glider, Heavy
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)(2/24/20 - 1/25/21)
- Mobile UAS Mothership for Subterranean Mapping and Monitoring
- US Army - Army Research Office(1/14/19 - 2/14/21)
- CAREER: Muscle-Inspired Load-Adaptive Actuation for Compliant Robotics
- National Science Foundation (NSF)(5/01/19 - 4/30/24)
- Autonomous Sensing Platforms for Subterranean Mapping and Monitoring
- US Army - Army Research Office(4/01/18 - 2/28/19)
- Design, Fabrication and Testing of Smart Material Carrier Basket Arrays (smCBAs) for Automated Analysis of 3D Cell Cultures
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)(5/04/18 - 10/31/18)
- Aerodynamic and Aeroelastic Behavior of Wings in the Presence of Upstream Vortical and Viscous Disturbances
- US Air Force - Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)(7/01/17 - 6/30/21)
- Aerodynamic Forces on Slender Body in Supersonic Cavity
- Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)(7/09/16 - 9/30/19)
- Vortex-Enhanced Flow Energy Extraction through Wake Interactions
- NCSU Faculty Research & Professional Development Fund(7/01/15 - 6/30/16)
- Control Approach Development for Variable Recruitment Artificial Muscles
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)(1/01/15 - 8/31/15)