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Biography

Dr Mark Wylie is a lecturer and researcher in the Aerospace, Mechanical and Electronic Engineering (AME) Department at SETU, Carlow campus. He is a member of the SETU Engineering Centre of Research and Enterprise (engCORE) team. Dr Wylie is a Mechanical Engineering graduate and received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from DIT in 2012 for his research in catheter delivered ultrasonic angioplasty for use in Percutaneous Transluminal Interventions (PTI). This work involved the characterisation of a low frequency ultrasonic device and its efficacy for use in tissue ablation as delivered via small diameter ultrasonically vibrating Nitinol wire waveguides. Finite Element Analysis (FEA), design and testing of a clinically relevant medical apparatus capable of ablating soft and hard diseased atherosclerotic lesions was carried out. Following his postgraduate research, Dr Wylie obtained a role as Team Lead for a sounding rocket experimental payload with ESA, DLR and SNSB. A novel lightweight deployable carbon fiber telescopic boom system was designed and tested during a sub-orbital flight. This role led Dr Wylie to a position as Principal Mechanical Engineer in the Space Department at Curtiss Wright Defense for a 5 year period. This role involved designing and qualifying rugged Data Acquisition (DAq) and other electronic systems on-board manned and un-manned spacecraft. This included the ACLS and PLDR on the International Space Station (ISS), VEGA-C, Ariane 5/6, Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner. Dr Wylie has also provided mechanical design and analysis for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) VIKI camera system, Ariane 6 Time Triggered Ethernet (TTE) system and the PLATO space telescope satellite temperature control system.

Research Interests

Dr Wylie’s research interests lie in areas relating to Mechanical, Biomedical, Aerospace and Electronic Engineering. Specifically, minimally invasive ultrasonic (US) medical devices, soft tissue perforation and ablation, US acoustic FEA, structural FEA for spacecraft acceleration load cases, isolation of piezoelectric devices on PCBs, vibration isolation for electronic equipment and deployable structures and experimental payloads for sounding rockets.

Engagement and Collaboration

Currently collaborating with MCAST, Malta and University of Padua, Italy on the formation of a pan European student team for educational sounding rocket platforms in the areas of HyperVelocity Impacts (HVIs) and spacecraft repair after hull perforation using cold-welding techniques.

The engCORE research team collaborate with a number of regional, national and transnational enterprises throughout a range of sectors including: Water & Wastewater treatment, Medical devices, Circuit design, Aviation and Aerospace, Food and Farming, Agri-Tech, Pharmaceutical, Mechanical Design, Sustainable Energy and Manufacturing. These engagements have led to numerous Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnerships, Commercialisation Fund Technology Development research grants and Irish Research Council Enterprise and Employment based grants being awarded to engCORE and its collaborative partners.

Current Research Students

  • Uday Kalyani- “Structural Analysis and Modal Characteristics of PCBs and Ruggidisation of Sensitive Electronic Components for the Launch Environment" (HEA GOI funded).
  • Theeba Shafeeg – “Cold-weld Adhesion for Spacecraft Repair after a Space Debris Impact" , (SETU President’s Award funded).

Areas of interest for future supervisory role

  • “Atherosclerotic Tissue Mocks for purpose of Medical Device Development and Device Efficiency/Injury Classification"

The Application of Modal Effective Mass for PCB Friction Lock Compliance Against Spacecraft Launch Random Vibration Spectrum. M. Wylie and L. Barilaro. Italian Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics, XXVII AIDAA Congress, Padova, Italy, September 2023.

Cold welding adhesion for spacecraft repair: Experiment design and roadmap. L Barilaro, M Wylie and L Olivieri, Acta Astronautica (Journal of the International Academy of Astronautics), V 210, P 511-517, ISSN 0094-5765, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2023.04.011, (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576523001820), September 2023.

Design of the Sabot-Stopping System for a Single-Stage Light-Gas Gun for High-Velocity Impacts. L Barilaro, M. Wylie and T. Shafeeg. Journal of Applied Science. V 13(13), 7664; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13137664, June 2023.

Experiment Design of a Payload for a Sub-orbital Rocket to Study Spacecraft Repair after Space Debris Impacts. L. Barilaro, M. Wylie and L. Olivieri. 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Paris, France, 18-22 September 2022.

An Investigation into Cold Weld Adhesion for Spacecraft Repair after a Space Debris Impact using Space Education Based Sub-orbital Sounding Rocket Platform. M. Wylie and L. Barilaro. 4th Symposium on Space Educational Activities. Barcelona, April 2022

The Effects of Lead and Lead-free Solder on the Modal Characteristics of populated PCBs, Kalyani, U.H. and M. Wylie. 11th European Solid Mechanics Conference (ESMC 2022), Galway, Ireland.

Impact of PCB Modal Finite Element Model Parameters on Ariane 5 Shock Response Spectrum Analysis, Kalyani, U.H. and M. Wylie. European   Conference on Spacecraft Structures, Materials and Environmental Testing (ECSSMET 2021). 2021, ECSSMET: Germany. p. 1-5.

Modal Finite Element Analysis of PCBs and the Role of Material Anisotropy. U.H Kalyani and M. Wylie. Conference paper has been accepted for 46th International conference at St. Petersburg, Russia. July 2020.

Increased Susceptibility of Arterial Tissue to Wire Perforation with the Application of High Frequency Mechanical Vibrations. Mark P. Wylie, Garrett B. McGuinness and Graham P. Gavin. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. December 2011. DOI 10.1109/TBME.2012.2184286

Perforation of Arterial Tissue using Low Frequency Ultrasound Delivered via NiTi Waveguides. Mark P. Wylie, Garrett McGuinness and Graham Gavin. Bioengineering In Ireland Conference, Galway, Ireland, January, 2011. Conference abstract.

Soft Tissue Cutting with Ultrasonic Mechanical Waveguides. Mark. P. Wylie, Garrett McGuinness and Graham. P. Gavin. International Congress on Ultrasonics, Gdansk, Poland, September, 2011.

Deployment and Characterisation of a Telescopic Boom for Sounding Rockets. Mark P. Wylie, Paul Duffy. Dinesh Vather, Stephen Curran and John Alan Keegan. 20th ESA Symposium on European Rocket and Balloon Programmes and Related Research (PAC), Hyeres, France, 2011.

A Novel Telescopic Boom Deployment System for Use in Upper Atmosphere Research. Mark P. Wylie, Paul Duffy. Dinesh Vather, Stephen Curran and John Alan Keegan. International Manufacturing Conference, Mayo, Ireland, 2010.

Ablation of Chronic Total Occlusions using Kilohertz-Frequency Mechanical Vibrations in Minimally Invasive Angioplasty Procedures. G.B. McGuinness, Mark P. Wylie, G.P. Gavin. Critical Reviews in Biomedical Engineering. Volume 38, Issue 6, pages 511 – 531, July 2010.

A Linear Finite Element Acoustic Fluid-Structure Model of Ultrasonic Angioplasty in vivo. Mark P. Wylie, Garrett McGuinness and Graham Gavin. International Journal of Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering. Volume 26, Issue 7, pages 828 – 842, July 2010.

Therapeutic Ultrasound Angioplasty: The Risk of Arterial Perforation. An In Vitro Study.  Mark P. Wylie, Garrett McGuinness and Graham Gavin. IEEE Engineering in Medicine Conference, Minneapolis, USA, September, 2009. Conference paper.

Ultrasonic Angioplasty: Assessing the Risk of Arterial Perforation. Mark P. Wylie, Garrett McGuinness and Graham Gavin. UK Society for Biomaterials Conference, Belfast, Northern Ireland, July, 2009. Conference paper

A Numerical Acoustic Fluid-Structure in Vivo Model of Ultrasonic Angioplasty in a Peripheral Artery. Mark P. Wylie, Garrett McGuinness and Graham Gavin. Conference on Computational & Mathematical Biomedical Engineering, Swansea, UK, June, 2009. Conference paper.

Numerical Investigation of the Effects of Ultrasonic Angioplasty: Thermal Heating and Acoustic Streaming. Mark P. Wylie, Garrett McGuinness and Graham Gavin. Northern Ireland Biomedical Engineering Society Conference, Belfast, Northern Ireland, March, 2008. Conference abstract.