GRO Intern, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Building graph neural network workflows for composites and polycrystals, including multitask elastic-plastic surrogates and uncertainty-aware fatigue prediction.
About me
I work at the intersection of computational mechanics, scientific machine learning, and high-performance computing. My research focuses on high-rate dynamics, failure of ceramics and metals, and resonant metamaterials under impact and blast loading. I develop numerical solvers and graph neural network models for microstructure-to-property prediction, with an emphasis on scalable scientific workflows.
- Graph neural networks for microstructure-to-property prediction in polycrystalline alloys and fiber composites.
- Multiscale computational mechanics using finite-element, discontinuous Galerkin, and phase-field methods.
- High-strain-rate dynamics and failure of heterogeneous materials, including metals, ceramics, and composites.
- Scalable high-performance computing (HPC) workflows for large-scale materials simulations.
Graphical abstract (Caliskan et al., 2025, M&D). See GRO at ORNL for more details.
LS-DYNA simulations of hexagonal and square Alumina (Al2O3) metamaterials under impact
with Johnson-Holmquist 2 material model. See GRA at UTK for more details.
Boron carbide (B4C)/silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic composite simulation. See more in GRA at UTK.
Click on the links to view more details.
Graduate Research Assistant, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Studying resonant metamaterials, high-strain-rate fracture, UMAT and UEL development, and HPC-enabled parametric simulation workflows for impact and blast problems.
View more
Mechanical Engineer, ITUNOVA Technologies
Managed multiphysics CAE workflows for a high-performance turbopump spanning structural, thermal, fatigue, and dynamic analyses.
Intern, Baykar Technologies
Performed structural analysis for composite control surfaces and related aerospace structures.
Intern, Turkish Aerospace Industries - ITU Very Light Aircraft Project
Built global FEM models for composite aircraft structures and carried out sizing, buckling, and stability studies.
Student Organization Member, ITU Facilis Vehicle Team
Led structural analyses for a composite monocoque and related systems, contributed to CFD and manufacturing, and later served as team manager.
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Interdisciplinary Graduate Minor in Computational Science
GPA 4.00/4.00. Thesis: Microstructure as a Graph: Surrogates for Elastic and Failure Responses.
M.Sc., Solid Mechanics, Istanbul Technical University
GPA 3.56/4.00. Thesis: Mechanical Properties of Boron Nanotubes.
B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University
Thesis: Design of Composite Monocoque Body for Lightweight Gasoline Vehicles.
- Caliskan, E., Anto, A. D., Lupo Pasini, M., TerMaath, S., and Abedi, R. (2026). Multitask Graph Neural Networks for Elastoplastic Response Prediction in Dual-Phase Polycrystals. Journal of Materials Science: Materials Theory (under review). Link
- Caliskan, E., Cheney, W., Wang, W., Plaisted, T., Amirkhizi, A. V., and Abedi, R. (2026). Time domain analysis of locally resonant elastic metamaterials under impact. Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, 33(1), 2619034. Link
- Caliskan, E., Abedi, R., and Lupo Pasini, M. (2025). Graph Neural Networks for Mechanical Property Prediction of 2D Fiber Composites. Materials & Design, 114500. Link
- Abedi, R., Furey, C., Pourkamali-Anaraki, F., Huynh, G., Caliskan, E., and Amirkhizi, A. V. (2025). Analyzing fragmentation response of heterogeneous ring using the method of characteristics and machine learning techniques. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 436, 117709. Link
- Caliskan, E. and Kirca, M. (2022). Tensile characteristics of boron nanotubes by using reactive molecular dynamics simulations. Computational Materials Science, 209, 111368. Link
- Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, UTK: 2026.
- UTK Graduate Student Senate Travel Award: 2023, 2024, and 2025.
- Graduate School Fellowship: Summer 2023.
- 2nd place, 5-Minute Thesis Competition, BASARIM 2022 - 7th High-Performance Computing Conference. Presentation
- Reviewer: Mechanics of Materials.
- HPC resource scholar: UHeM and TRUBA, 2020 - 2022.
Presented 8 times and contributed to 20+ abstracts across SES, IMECE, WCCM, USNCCM, EMI, and related venues. (★) presenter. View all conference entries. Selected presentations:
- Erdem Caliskan★, Anik Das Anto, Reza Abedi, and Massimiliano Lupo Pasini. Probabilistic multi-task graph neural network surrogates for elastic-plastic behavior and fatigue indicator prediction in polycrystalline alloys. In SES Conference 2025, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, October 12-15, 2025.
- Erdem Caliskan★, Willoughby Cheney, Weidi Wang, Alireza Amirkhizi, and Reza Abedi. Design and Dynamic Response Analysis of Resonant Microstructured Media. In International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition 2024 (IMECE2024), Portland, Oregon, November 17-21, 2024.
- Erdem Caliskan★, Weidi Wang, Willoughby Cheney, Alireza V. Amirkhizi, and Reza Abedi. Transient nonlinear response of resonant metamaterial arrays under impact loading. In 16th World Congress on Computational Mechanics and 4th Pan American Congress on Computational Mechanics (WCCM / PANACM 2024), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 21-26, 2024.