Dr. Erath

Associate Professor, FAST Lab Director

Dr. Byron D. Erath was raised in Yakima, WA. After studying Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University, he attended graduate school at Purdue University, ultimately graduating with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2009. Following graduation he completed a post-doc at The George Washington University, before joining the Department of Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering at Clarkson University as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2012. Dr. Erath lives in Colton, NY with his wife, Leigh, and three sons; Baden, and twins, Griffin and Connor. When the weather is nice, you’ll find him riding one of his bicycles on the rural roads of Saint Lawrence County. During the winter he’s usually off in the woods cross-country skiing. His greatest aspiration in life is to own a tractor.

Post-Doctoral Scholars

Mohsen Motie-Shirazi

Mohsen Motie-Shirazi was born and raised in Shiraz, Iran. He finished his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Shiraz University in 2015. After that, he joined the FAST lab in summer of 2017 as a PhD student. His research includes the development of physiologically-relevant synthetic vocal folds models for the investigation of contact pressures during phonation. This work is relevant to the study of vocal hyperfunction, where a wide range of critical parameters that are difficult to measure clinically, can be acquired in the in vitro vocal fold models. In his free time he likes to play volleyball and pool with friends, and hike in the woods. He enjoys nature photography as a hobby.

Google Scholar

LinkedIn

Ph.D. Students

Tanvir Ahmed

Tanvir Ahmed is a PhD student, his research focused on the fluid mechanics of expiratory droplet transportation during speech. He joined the FAST Lab in 2018 as a masters’ student. He received his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in the summer of 2020. His master’s thesis was on vortex-surface interactions with concave surfaces. Before coming to Clarkson, he received his Bachelor of Science (BS) degree from Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST), Bangladesh in 2015. After finishing his BS he served as a lecturer at AUST from 2015 to 2018. He enjoys participating in extracurricular activities. He is currently serving as one of the councilors of the Clarkson University Graduate Student Association. He also holds the post of Vice-president of the Clarkson Cricket Club. His favorite past times include watching movies, playing outdoor games, and traveling.

RG 

LinkedIn

Mehtap Agirsoy

Mehtap was born and raised in Ankara, Turkey. She received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and studied master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Middle East Technical University. Now she is pursuing her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Clarkson University. She joined the FAST lab in spring of 2021. She works on characterizing the fluid dynamics of human phonation and speech as a modality for airborne transport of virus-laden droplets to investigate airborne transport of COVID-19. She likes yoga, scuba diving, and equestrian.

M.S. Students

Undergraduate Researchers

Kelly Boutin

Kelly is a senior undergraduate student at Clarkson University. She is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. She joined the research team in the fall of 2022 and is working towards developing vocal fold models that are able to undergo a tensile force without the effect of necking. In her free time she likes to crochet and spend time with her friends and family. She is currently a member of the Clarkson Women’s Rugby team and the Clarkson University Pep Band.

Grace Ameis

Grace is a Junior undergraduate student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with minors in Sustainable Energy Systems and Digital Arts at Clarkson University. She is a member of the Clarkson Dance Ensemble and Clarkson SWE chapter.

Alumni

  • Mohsen Motie-Shirazi (Ph.D.) June, 2022
    • Current Position: Post-doctoral scholar, Clarkson University
  • Molly Stewart (M.S.) May, 2022
    • Current Position: Regeneron
  • Qinwei Li (M.S.) May, 2022
  • Mark Yorkey (B.S.) May, 2022
    • Current Position: LaBella Associates
  • Bryan Kern (B.S.) May, 2022
    • Current Position: Epic
  • Hannah Wendling (B.S.), May, 2021
    • Current Position: Graduate Student, Tufts University
  • Rachel Noble (Canton Central High School), June, 2019
  • Alireza Pirnia, (Ph.D.), May, 2019
    • Current Position: Leading Edge Equipment Technologies
  • Natalie Jagelksi (B.S.), May, 2019
  • Emily Browning (B.S.), May, 2018
    • Current Position: Graduate Student, University of Alaska-Fairbanks
  • Matthew Haltermann (B.S.), May, 2017
    • Current Position: Graduate Student, Clarkson University
  • Aishwarya Patel (B.S.), May, 2017
  • Michael Terry (B.S.), May, 2017
    • Current Position: Lockheed Martin
  • Hiba Saidi (M.E.), December 2016
    • Current Position: The Raymond Corporation, Greene, NY
  • Tyler Tuttle (B.S.), December 2016
    • Current Position: Graduate Student, Michigan State University
  • Kyle Pollak (B.S. – Honors), May 2016
    • Current Position: U.S. Army Benet Laboratories, Watervliet, NY
  • Mitchell Phillips (B.S.), May 2016
    • Current Position: Graduate Student, Rensselaer Polytechnic University
  • Cameron Jones (M.S.), May 2015
    • Current Position: Hipotronics, Brewster, NY
  • Brian Tyson (B.S.), May 2015
    • Current Position: General Electric
  • Greg Basile (B.S.), May 2015
    • Current Position: Lockheed Martin
  • Frank Hemsing (M.S.), May 2015
    • Current Position: IBM, Poughkeepsie, NY
  • Andrea Westervelt (B.S.), May 2014
    • Current Position: Columbia University, Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • Alex Zehr (B.S.), May 2014
  • Kevin Deon (B.S.), May 2014
    • Current Position: Engineering Firm, Watertown, NY
  • Janine Amell (B.S.), December 2013
    • Current Position: California State – Dominguez Hills, Orthotics and Prosthetics

Collaborators