Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014
  • M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Louisiana State University, 2009
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Louisiana State University, 2008
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer Mechanical, Louisiana, #44174
  • Professional Engineer Mechanical, Texas, #128851
  • Certified Vibration Analyst (CVA)
Professional Honors
  • Graduate Certificate in Engineering Entrepreneurship, Earnest Scheller Jr. College of Business
  • College Honors Distinction, LSU Honors College
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2010
  • Georgia Tech President's Fellowship, 2010
  • Louisiana Engineering Foundation Vincent A. Forte Fellowship, 2008
  • Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, 2007
  • Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society, 2007
  • Eagle Scout, 2000
Professional Affiliations
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers — ASME (Member)
  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics — AIAA (Senior Member)
    • Associate Member: Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) Technical Committee

Dr. Kornuta specializes in mechanical design and failure analysis with an emphasis on electromechanical and mechatronic equipment. His areas of expertise include instrumentation and control systems, dynamics and vibration, fluid mechanics, and thermodynamics. 

Dr. Kornuta has investigated mechanical and electrical systems in the energy, aerospace, industrial, biomedical, and transportation sectors; as well as performed on-site inspections and laboratory test programs. Examples of equipment he has evaluated include turbines, generators, motors, pumps, compressors, and pipe joints, among others. Dr. Kornuta also has expertise in signal processing, system identification, and data science. His experience analyzing complex, multi-energy domain systems and diverse research background enable Dr. Kornuta to apply his expertise to a wide variety of equipment in the design, manufacturing, operation, and troubleshooting phases.

Dr. Kornuta also has hands-on experience with computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), manual and computer-controlled (CNC) mills and lathes, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), microcontrollers, analog and digital sensors, electric motors and actuators, motion control systems, and printed circuit board (PCB) design. Additionally, he has experience with various software applications and programming languages including MATLAB/Simulink, Mathematica, Python, R, FORTRAN, C/C++ for embedded systems, and finite element analysis (FEA) packages.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Kornuta completed his doctoral research at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he studied lymphatic vessel pump function in response to dynamic mechanical loading. To this end he designed and built a novel test apparatus capable of imposing dynamic loads on excised lymphatic vessels using a model predictive control (MPC) algorithm implemented on embedded hardware. In addition, during his master's thesis research, Dr. Kornuta evaluated the feasibility of using a momentum exchange tether as a hypersonic parachute during reentry for human space missions. In particular, he quantified reductions in heat loads and temperatures on a reentry capsule as a function of various system parameters using self-developed multi-body dynamics and heat transfer simulation software.