Naveen Chandrashekar, PEng

Naveen Chandrashekar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo.

His research interests are in orthopaedic biomechanics, the design of biomedical devices, and tissue engineering. Professor Chandrashekar and his team are conducting innovative research on the anterior cruciate ligament, commonly known as the ACL. He has designed a simulator to enact the movements of a human knee to measure the damage inflicted on the ACL during athletic maneuvers. A sensor is attached to the mechanical ligament on the knee simulator, and readings from the sensor provide insight into how different motions and factors like movement from the hip influence the injury. Using this approach, the team is working on designing and evaluating new knee braces.

Professor Chandrashekar teaches several upper-year Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering courses at the university. He has published several articles in the Journal of Biomechanics and the Journal of Mechanical Behaviour of Biomedical Materials. He has also taken part in several conferences such as the Annual Meetings of Orthopaedic Research Society, American Society of Biomechanics, Biennial Meeting of Canadian Society of Biomechanics, and the Annual Ontario Biomechanics Conference. Professor Chandrashekar’s research has been funded by several organizations, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Ontario Centres of Excellence, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

• Knee Mechanics, Orthopaedics, Ligament Injury, Musculoskeletal Biomechanics, Implant Design, Cartilage Injury, In-Vitro Injury Simulation, Tissue Engineering, Instrumentation Design, Biomechanics and Biotechnology

Research interest in the general area of orthopaedic biomechanics. Specifically interested in the biomechanics of knee injury, tissue mechanics, mechanics of ligament grafts and design of implants and fixation devices. My rearch interest also includes effectiveness of virtual laboratory environment on students of various leaning styles.

Working with McGraw-Hill higher education on updatinng the new edition of Materials Science textbook (Foundations of Materials Science and Engineering, Smith and Hashemi, 5th Edn). Worked with them earlier to design a supplementary CD for the previous edition. The CD consisted of lecture power-point slides, lab manuals and virtual experiments.

• 2005, Doctorate Mechanical Engineering, Texas Tech University, USA

• 2003, Master's Mechanical Engineering, Texas Tech University, USA

• 2000, Bachelor's Mechanical Engineering, Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology (Affiliated to Kuvempu University), India

• 0000 Best Instructor Award by Pi Tau Sigma (Mechanical Engineering Honorary Fraternity)

• 0000 Outstanding Presentation award in the ASME Region X Graduate Student Technical Conference

• 0000 Summer Thesis Dissertation Fellowship from Texas Tech University.

• BME 281 - Mechanics of Deformable Solids
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• BME 281L - Mechanics of Deformable Solids Laboratory
  • Taught in 2020, 2021
• ME 219 - Mechanics of Deformable Solids 1
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2025
• ME 220 - Mechanics of Deformable Solids 2
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• ME 559 - Finite Element Methods
  • Taught in 2020
• MTE 119 - Statics
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Bakker, Ryan and Tomescu, Sebastian and Brenneman, Elora and Hangalur, Gajendra and Laing, Andrew and Chandrashekar, Naveen, Effect of sagittal plane mechanics on ACL strain during jump landing, Journal of Orthopaedic Research, , 2016

• Hangalur, Gajendra and Brenneman, Elora and Nicholls, Micah and Bakker, Ryan and Laing, Andrew and Chandrashekar, Naveen, Can a knee brace reduce the strain in the anterior cruciate ligament? A study using combined in vivo/in vitro method, Prosthetics and orthotics international, 030936461, 2015

• Chandrashekar, N and Bakker, R and Tomescu, S and Brennan, E and Hangalur, G and Laing, A, The effect of sagittal-plane mechanics on ACL strain during jump landing, Journal of Athletic Training, 1107, 2015

• Barker, Jeffrey B and Cronin, Duane S and Chandrashekar, Naveen, Accepted Manuscript Not Copyedited, , , 2014

• Barker, Jeffrey B and Cronin, Duane S and Chandrashekar, Naveen, High Rotation Rate Behavior of Cervical Spine Segments in Flexion and Extension, Journal of biomechanical engineering, 121004, 2014