Mauricio Ponga

Mauricio Ponga is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Applied Science. His research focuses on computational mechanics, multiscale modeling, and material failure analysis. He holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. from the University of Seville, a B.S. from the University of La Plata, and completed postdoctoral work at Caltech.

• Education: B.S. (University of La Plata), M.Sc. (University of Seville), Ph.D. (University of Seville), Postdoctoral Fellowship (Caltech)

Research Interests

• Mechanics of materials under extreme conditions
• Multiscale modeling (atomic to continuum)
• Thermal and electronic transport in materials
• Material failure mechanisms (spallation, twinning)
• Industrial applications (batteries, superconductors)

Recent Publications highlight his work on high-entropy alloys, polymer brushes, 2D materials, and novel simulation methods like local two-temperature molecular dynamics (l2T-MD) and accelerated mesodynamics (aMD). Projects include collaborations with TRIUMF, NSERC, and FP Innovations.

Labs & Collaborations

• Principal Investigator of the Modeling and Simulation Research Group at UBC
• Collaborations with S2SES (Coanda-effect screens), DND (gradient nano-grained alloys), and Caltech (postdoctoral work)