![\"Sakaue](\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/files\/2026\/09\/members_summer2026_under2MB.gif\")
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Our lab consists of a principal investigator, graduate and undergraduate students, internship students, and visiting scholars. Members of the lab are passionate about research and have a wide variety of interests, ranging from icing research to luminescent sensors to drag reducing surface coatings. Our group is always looking for motivated students who share an interest in understanding challenging problems with an appreciation for interdisciplinary study. Please contact us if you are interested or have any questions.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/files\/2022\/02\/face_hirotaka-sakaue_ame_notre-dame.png\")
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Hirotaka Sakaue <\/p>\n Daiki Kurihara<\/strong> <\/p>\n Masafumi Yamazaki<\/strong> Nicholas Slusher<\/strong> <\/p>\n Michael Sanchez<\/strong> Alex Alvarez<\/strong> <\/p>\n Lyon Burns<\/strong> <\/p>\n Ava Sweere<\/strong> William DeJulius<\/strong> Katelyn Almeida<\/strong> Currently, there are no visiting scholars \/ students. Will be updated<\/p>\n Currently, there are no internship students. Will be updated<\/p>\n go to past members: http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/people\/past-members\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our lab consists of a principal investigator, graduate and undergraduate students, internship students, and visiting scholars. Members of the lab are passionate about research and have a wide variety of interests, ranging from icing research to luminescent sensors to drag reducing surface coatings. Our group is always looking for motivated students who share an … Continue reading “People”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2942,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2942"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":211,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1820,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions\/1820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Hirotaka Sakaue is the principal investigator of this laboratory. He joined the University of Notre Dame as an associate professor in the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department in 2015.\u00a0He is originally from Japan and spent many years working for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), where he served as a mentor and adviser to many students.<\/p>\nPostdoctoral Scholars<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/files\/2025\/09\/2024_10_2025_08_Daiki-Kurihara_postdoc2-scaled-e1757900765433-232x300.jpg\")
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\nDaiki joined our group in the spring of 2017 after receiving his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tokyo University of Science. He worked in the lab as a visiting student in summer 2015. He is originally from Tokyo, Japan. His research topic is the development of a novel motion-capturing pressure measurement technique using PSP sensors.<\/p>\nGraduate Students<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/files\/2020\/10\/2020_08_2020_10_Zakky-Yamazaki_grad.jpg\")
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\nZakky joined Sakaue Lab in the fall of 2020. He is originally from Saitama, Japan. He received B.S. in Applied Physics from Tokyo University of Science and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kanagawa Institute of Technology. He has worked on icing problems and mitigation techniques in aviation and wind energy field. He works on the elucidation of the freezing mechanism of a supercooled water droplet.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/files\/2021\/06\/2021_01_2021_06_Nick-Slusher_sophomore.png\")
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\nNick is a graduate student studying Aerospace Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He is from Columbia, MO, and currently lives in Keenan Hall. Nick joined the Sakaue Lab in January 2021 and is currently researching the effects of temperature on anodized aluminum pressure-sensitive paint.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/files\/2025\/09\/2025_08_Sanchez_grad-scaled-e1757900908154-232x300.jpg\")
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\nMichael Sanchez is a senior studying Aerospace Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He is from New York City, NY, and currently lives in Baumer Hall. Michael joined the Sakaue Lab in January 2024 and is currently working on the splashing phenomenon by having a stationary water droplet being impacted by a moving surface. Understanding this phenomenon would improve icing simulation found on an aircraft.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/files\/2025\/09\/2025_08_Alex-Alvarez_grad-scaled-e1757900867737-232x300.jpg\")
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\nAlex Alvarez is a second year Master’s student studying Aerospace Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He is originally from Caguas, PR, but moved to St. Petersburg, FL, for his middle and high school years. Alex joined Sakaue labs in 2025 after completing his B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University. At the lab, Alex works on studying the effects of surface roughness on aerodynamic models in the transonic flow regime, by using PSP to extract important surface pressure information that can provide insights on the global flow behavior.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sakaue-lab\/files\/2024\/08\/NURF-student_2024_08_lyon-burns_purdue-scaled-e1724703333801-225x300.jpg\")
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\nLyon is a graduate student studying Aerospace Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He grew up in various places including Indiana, Japan, Kentucky, and Texas. He received B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University. Lyon previously did an undergraduate research internship at Sakaue Lab in summer 2024 and is currently researching high enthalpy PSP\/TSP applications.<\/p>\nUndergraduate Students<\/h3>\n
\nAva is a undergraduate mechanical engineering student at the University of Notre Dame. She is from Huntington Beach, California and is currently living in Farley Hall. She joined the lab in Fall 2026 and is working on developing a noise-reduction coating.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nWilliam is a undergraduate student studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He is from Rumson NJ, and currently lives in Alumni Hall. William joined the Sakaue Lab in January 2026 and is currently researching the effects of powdered coatings on the flow regime of water.<\/p>\n
\nKatelyn is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. She is from Green Brook, NJ and currently lives in Pasquerilla West Hall. Katelyn joined the Sakaue Lab in January 2026 and is currently researching image denoising.<\/span><\/p>\nVisiting Scholars\/Visiting Students<\/h3>\n
Internship Students<\/h3>\n
Past Members<\/h2>\n