University of Delaware researcher Maneesha Sanhi received the Department of Biomedical Engineering’s Outstanding Engineering Outreach Award for leadership in community STEM initiatives and scientific societies. Sanhi served as outreach chair and vice president of UD’s Graduate Biomedical Engineering Society, chair of the Women in Engineering group and an alumni mentor for Drexel University’s Society of Women Engineers.As a Perry Initiative Fellow, she also led hands-on engineering and medical outreach events nationwide for high school and medical students.
Alongside her community leadership, Sanhi conducts research on mock energetic composites under advisor Chelsea Davis and in collaboration with Texas Tech University researchers Michelle Pantoya and Ishrat Malek.
She recently presented her work, “Fracture Toughness of Alumina Particle-Silicone Matrix Mock Energetic Composites Using Miniaturized Pure Shear,” at the Energetic Materials Gordon Research Seminar, Gordon Research Conferences, and ACS Colloids conferences.
Her research examines how different surface functionalization of alumina particles incorporated into a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix influence the fracture toughness of composite materials. Understanding and improving fracture toughness is critical for developing stronger, more reliable materials capable of withstanding the high stresses associated with energetic composites.
