
Kate (Puikei) Cheng, Ph.D.
Dr. Cheng specializes in computational mechanics, focusing on the modeling of metal deformation and manufacturing processes. She has extensive experience in thermal and mechanical finite element modeling (FEA) of plasticity, damage, and microstructural-based models. At Exponent, Dr. Cheng has assisted with the analysis of mechanical components involved in intellectual property disputes and accident investigations.
Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Cheng completed her Ph.D. at Northwestern on toolpath design for additive manufacturing. During her studies, she also performed research in collaboration with Ford Motor Company to develop software for modeling the deformation and failure of uni-directional and woven polymer matrix carbon fiber composites. Additionally, she has experience in large-scale data analysis (using Matlab and Python), parallel and high-performance computing, image processing, complex data visualization, data acquisition, and experiment design.
CREDENTIALS & PROFESSIONAL HONORS
- Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2020
- M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2017
- B.S., Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 2014
LANGUAGES
- Cantonese
Publications
Cheng P, Liu WK, Ehmann K, Cao J. Enumeration of additive manufacturing toolpaths using Hamiltonian paths. Manufacturing Letters. 2020; 26:29-32.
Cheng P. Toolpath Design for Additive Manufacturing Using Graph Theory. Ph. D. Dissertation, Northwestern University, 2020.
Ndip-Agbor E, Cheng P, Moser N, Ehmann K, Cao J. Prediction of rigid body motion in multi-pass single point incremental forming. Journal of Materials processing Technology. 2019 Jul 1;269:117-27.
Smith J, Xiong W, Yan W, Lin S, Cheng P, Kafka OL, Wagner GJ, Cao J, Liu WK. Linking process, structure, property, and performance for metal-based additive manufacturing: computational approaches with experimental support. Computational Mechanics. 2016 Apr 1;57(4):583-610.
Prior Experience
Guest Researcher, National Institute for Standards and Technology, 2020
Teaching Assistant, Northwestern University, 2016 - 2019
Additional Information
Additional Education Training
Certificate in Research Communication, Northwestern University
Management for Scientists and Engineers Certificate, Northwestern University
Predictive Science & Engineering Design Certificate, Northwestern University
SWE/Chevron Scholar
News & Events
CREDENTIALS & PROFESSIONAL HONORS
- Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2020
- M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2017
- B.S., Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 2014
LANGUAGES
- Cantonese