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Dr

Malachy O'Rourke

Lecturer/Assistant Professor

School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Orcid identifier0000-0002-1972-2009
  • Lecturer/Assistant Professor
    School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
  • 01 716 1950
  • University College Dublin, School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Engineering Building Belfield Dublin 4

BIO

Malachy O'Rourke, PhD is a Lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at University College Dublin. He is Programme Director for the ME Mechanical Engineering Degree Programme.

His teaching activity is predominantly in fluid mechanics and he has designed, developed and integrated modules in Mechanics of Fluids at introductory, intermediate and advanced level. Mechanics of Fluids is a progressive stream spanning undergraduate and postgraduate curricula in Mechanical Engineering. Additionally Dr O'Rourke has developed a module in Biofluid Mechanics which he now delivers to students in stage 3 of the undergraduate Biomedical Engineering programme.

As programme director Dr O'Rourke is involved in all aspects of management of the ME Mechanical Engineering programme including student orientation, student internships, programme accreditation and programme steering committee. He has also been responsible for the initial design and development of the programme from its initial inception in 2006.

Dr O'Rourke's research involves the application of fluid mechanics to biofluid mechanical systems. Active ares of research include include
- mitral and tricuspid heart valve disease
- vena cava hemodynamics
- abdominal aorta and cerebral aneurysms
- congenital heart disease, tetralogy of Fallot and coarctation of the aorta

Dr O'Rourke leads the cardiovascular biomechanics laboratory at UCD which includes both an in-vitro laboratory and computational experimental capability. The in vitro laboratory includes a right and left side heart simulator and has capability in 3d printing, fluid flow visualisation and particle image velocimetry . Computations include fluid dynamics, finite element analysis and fluid structure interaction.

In 2012 Dr O'Rourke was awarded the prestigious IMechE Thomas Hawksley Gold Medal and the IMechE Biomedical Engineering Association Duncan Dowson Prize for his paper entitled "An Investigation of the relationship between Hemodynamics and Thrombus Deposition within Patient-specific Models of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.

Dr O'Rourke was educated at St Colman's College, Newry and Queen's University Belfast (BE Mechanical Engineering (1991), PhD Mechanical Engineering (1996). He was awarded the IMechE prize for best final year project in Mechanical Engineering. His PhD title was 'An experimental and computational investigation into flow patterns within a radial inflow turbine rotor'. During the period 1995-97, he worked on the design of gas turbine engines at GEC Alstom, Whetstone, Leicester. In late 1997 he returned to Ireland, working first at QUB and then later at IT Tallaght before commencing employment at UCD in September 1998.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Lecturer
    University College Dublin, Mechanical Engineering, Dublin, Ireland1 Sep 1998
  • Lecturer
    IT Tallaght, Engineering, Dublin, Ireland1 Jan 1998 - 31 Aug 1998
  • Postdoctoral Researcher
    Queen's University Belfast, Aeronautical Engineering, Belfast, United Kingdom1 Sep 1997 - 31 Aug 1998

NON-ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Research and Development Engineer
    GEC Alsthom, European Gas Turbines, Leicester, England1 Sep 1995 - 31 Aug 1997

DEGREES

  • BE
    Queen's University Belfast
  • PhD
    Queen's University Belfast