Home page
ع
Resources for Current Students, Faculty and Staff
Webmail Directory Catalog Banner Canvas Moodle
Primary Navigation Background
Quick Links / AUC Directory, Faculty Directory
Headshot of Mostafa Youssef, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Additional Links

Mostafa Youssef

  • Position: Associate Professor
  • Department: Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • Email: [email protected]
Brief Biography

Mostafa Youssef is an associate professor at The American University in Cairo (AUC). In 2006, he received his BS from Alexandria University, Egypt, with a major in nuclear and radiation engineering. Youssef pursued graduate studies in the area of computational nuclear materials at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA, until he obtained his MS and PhD in 2010, and 2013, respectively. From 2013 to 2016, Youssef conducted postdoctoral research at MIT in computational thermodynamics of ceramic materials. In 2017, he joined the mechanical engineering department at AUC.

Research Interest

My research attempts to address the challenge posed by Max Born to younger generations, “I have restricted my work to ideal crystals though I am aware that the theory of the defects in real crystals is practically far more important. This I have left to a younger generation.” To that end, I employ techniques of computer simulation of materials to understand and design the thermodynamic and kinetic response of defective crystals to external stimuli such as temperature, stress, electromagnetic field, and chemical potential. The purpose is twofold; advancing our fundamental understanding of materials science and engineering, and improving the performance of various technologies such as solar cells, batteries, fuel cells, semiconductor devices, computer memories, and corrosion-resistant alloys.

The following set of keywords indicates the theme of my research:

  • Thermodynamics
  • Defects
  • Density functional theory
  • Semiconductor physics
  • Materials interfaces
  • Diffusion
  • Charge transfer
  • Electric conductivity
  • Thermal conductivity
  • Water
  • Phase transitions
  • Solar Fuels
  • Corrosion
  • Alloys
  • M. Youssef, B. Yildiz, and K. J. Van Vliet, “Thermomechanical stabilization of electron small polarons in SrTiO3 assessed by the quasiharmonic approximation” Physical Review B 95, 161110(R) (2017).
  • J. Yang, M. Youssef, and Bilge Yildiz, “Predicting point defect equilibria across oxide hetero-interfaces: model system of ZrO2/Cr2O3” Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 19, 3869 (2017).
  • M. Youssef, Ming Yang, and B. Yildiz, “Doping in the valley of hydrogen solubility: A route to designing hydrogen resistant zirconium alloys” Physical Review Applied 5, 014008 (2016).
  • U. Otgonbaatar, W. Ma, M. Youssef, and B. Yildiz, “Effect of niobium on the defect chemistry and oxidation kinetics of tetragonal ZrO2” The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 118, 20122 (2014).
  • M. Youssef and B. Yildiz, “Predicting self-diffusion in metal oxides from first-principles: The case of oxygen in tetragonal ZrO2” Physical Review B 89, 024105 (2014).
  • M. Youssef and B. Yildiz, “Hydrogen defects in tetragonal ZrO2 studied using density functional theory” Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 16, 1354 (2014).
  • M. Youssef and B. Yildiz, “Intrinsic point-defect equilibria in tetragonal ZrO2: Density functional theory analysis with finite-temperature effects” Physical Review B 86, 144109 (2012).
  • M. Youssef, R. J.-M. Pellenq, and B. Yildiz, “Glassy nature of water in an ultraconfining disordered material: The case of calcium-silicate-hydrate” Journal of the American Chemical Society 133, 2499 (2011).
  • PhD, Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, 2013
  • MS, Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, 2010
  • BS, Nuclear and Radiation Engineering, Alexandria University, Egypt, 2006

I enjoy teaching courses related to thermodynamics, kinetics, materials, computer simulation, and numerical methods. Courses I teach at AUC are:

ENGR 3322 Fundamentals of Thermo-fluids

ENGR 3202 Engineering Analysis and Computation

ENGR 2112 Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics