Biography
Dr. Mishal Thapa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Clarkson University, since August 2025. His research interests include uncertainty quantification, stochastic optimization, and machine/deep learning for the probabilistic design of aerospace structures and wind turbine blades, with the goal of improving performance and reliability.
Prior to joining Clarkson, Dr. Thapa was a Senior Research Professional at the Remote Sensing Center, University of Alabama, where he led aero-structural projects for airborne radar systems. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from the University of Alabama in 2017 and 2019, respectively, as a Graduate Council Fellow, and subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Arizona in 2020.
Dr. Thapa serves as a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Non-Deterministic Approaches Technical Committee, has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, and acts as a reviewer for numerous conferences/journals.
Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=syVRvUAAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mishal-thapa-a860b3186/
ResearchGate:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mishal-Thapa?ev=hdr_xprf
Education Background
- Ph. D., Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, 2019, The University of Alabama
- M.S., Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, 2017, The University of Alabama
Research Interests
Composite Structures, Meta-materials/Lattice structures, Uncertainty quantification, Stochastic Optimization, Machine/Deep Learning (LSTMs).
Publications
Selected Publications
M Thapa, SB Mulani, "Global Sensitivity Analysis of Discontinuous Responses Using Domain Decomposition," AIAA SCITECH 2026 Forum, 0771, 2026
JS Pilakkadan, M Thapa, SB Mulani, "A Stochastic Framework for Multiaxial Fatigue Analysis of Composite Structures Under Variable Amplitude Loading," AIAA SCITECH 2026 Forum, 0768, 2026
M Thapa, S B. Mulani, S Gupta, V Goyal, "Stochastic Non-Linear Buckling Analysis of Variable Angle Tow Composites,” American Society for Composites 39th Technical Conference, 2024
M Thapa, SB Mulani, A Paudel, S Gupta, RW Walters, "Classifier-based adaptive polynomial chaos expansion for high-dimensional uncertainty quantification," Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 422, 116829, 13, 2024
S Gupta, A Paudel, M Thapa, SB Mulani, RW Walters, "Optimal sampling-based neural networks for uncertainty quantification and stochastic optimization," Aerospace Science and Technology, 133, 108109, 12, 2023
M Thapa, S Missoum," Uncertainty quantification and global sensitivity analysis of composite wind turbine blades," Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 222, 108354, 65, 2022
M Thapa, SB Mulani, RW Walters, "Stochastic multi-scale modeling of carbon fiber reinforced composites with polynomial chaos," Composite Structures, 213, 82-97,71, 2019