Leland Weiss

Biography

Dr. Leland Weiss graduated from Washington State University in 2008 with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. He is presently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Louisiana Tech. He serves a dual appointment with the Mechanical Engineering Department and the Institute for Micromanufacturing (IfM). Dr. Weiss is a 2011 NSF CAREER Award winner and has spent several years in Industry at Caterpillar, Inc. Dr. Weiss’ work includes a strong track record of small scale device design and fabrication. This includes work in microfluidic capillary channels, micron-thick membranes, and advanced heat exchangers and thermal storage devices through sponsored NASA research. Dr. Weiss spent several years working as a Research Engineer at Caterpillar Inc. and has worked with private industry as part of his efforts at Louisiana Tech’s Institute for Micromanufacturing (IfM). This includes recent platform engineering work with Radiance Technologies Inc and NASA.

Research Interest

Manufacturing and Energy Efficiency represent research areas of significant interest. Dr. Weiss guides the Scalable Devices and Energy Efficiency Labs at IfM to pursue research that contributes solutions to these areas. Hydrogen Sulfide is both an environmental and human health danger. Lab on a Chip (LOC) research is using the Weiss Labs' foundation of microfluidics and device design to make Hydrogen Sulfide sensing available to both environmental and biomedical applications. In collaboration with Innolyzer Labs and Dr. Arumugam at Louisiana Tech, Hydrogen Sulfide Sensing is being made possible through novel device design and low-cost, accurate sensing.Various means and sources for thermal energy harvesting are under investigation. Useful, real-world device design is a key component to the work. The use of exhaust heat in a low-temperature steam cycle designed to operate on the micro-scale is one area of focus. Additional work is underway to fabricate novel devices for low-temperature solar thermal energy scavenging. Device design considers a low-temperature steam cycle system based on MEMS components as well as 3D printed solutions. The system uses low boiling point working fluids to operate from heat sources that are typically unused due to their low exergy. The system consists of a high surface area boiler with micro-capillary channels and an integrated steam system. The steam system is designed to output useful power utilizing piezoelectric components driven by the evaporated working fluid.