Daniel Massimino

Research Projects • Other Projects • Photography • Email

Hello! I’m Daniel, a PhD student at MIT in Mechanical Engineering. I am currently working in the Fabrication Integrated Design Lab (FIDL). I am investigating using glass additive manufacturing as a building material in partnership with Evenline Inc.

I am broadly interested in the development of new construction materials. This interest stems from the combination of my BS in Civil Engineering from Columbia University, five years as a Boeing manufacturing engineer at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, and my current studies as a mechanical engineer.

Research Projects

Additive manufacturing of interlocking glass masonry units

2024 • Journal Paper

We investigated the feasibility of integrating glass 3D printing into the built environment through interlocking glass masonry units. In collaboration with Evenline Co., we developed three novel manufacturing processes for generating interlocking components using combinations of additive manufacturing and casting. This included a process that uses graphite molds for casting features and direct printing with the glass printer. Additional work employed profilometry to estimate stress concentration factors. This research culminated in my master’s thesis at MIT.

All interlocking masonry unit sample assembled together in front of the MIT dome.

Compressive testing of interlocking masonry units at SGH (Waltham, MA)

Casting into previously printed masonry units to make hybrid print-cast (PC) units.

Finished print-cast (PC) unit.

Fully printed (FP) masonry units arrange with bottom in view.

Journal: Glass Structures and Engineering

Contributions:
Concept generation, glass component manufacturing, mechanical testing, profilometry, data analysis, photography, graphite machining, test fixture design and fabrication

Team:
Daniel Massimino, Michael Stern, Ethan Townsend, Kaitlyn Becker

Paper: link
MIT News: link

Acknowledgements: A big thank you to the test and design team at Simpson Gumpertz and Heger for their help with testing. Dan Gilbert from MIT’s LMP also contributed to the work.

Advancing Sustainable 3D Printing: The Feasibility of Recycled Glass as a Building Material With Additive Manufacturing

2024 • Conference Paper

Together with Evenline Inc.., we developed a method for 3D printing recycled glass products. As detailed in the paper, we used material characterization data to estimate temperature–viscosity curves. From these curves, we were able to print multiple glass compositions using the same glass 3D printer. Further development included printing recycled window and container glass. Window glass was also printed onto sheets of window glass to demonstrate rib-on-plate opportunities and compatibility with coatings.

Evenline’s 3D Glass Printer 3 (3DGP3) in use at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

Recycled Pilkington float glass printed into a masonry unit.

Rib on plate concept using extruded Pilkington recycled cullet on Pilkington float glass.

Pilkington float glass printed onto floating glass samples with different coatings. Proof of concept showed that coatings retain effectiveness after printing.

Conference: Challenging Glass

Contributions:
Writing, material characterization process, connecting material properties to
temperature-viscosity model

Team:
Michael Stern, Ethan Townsend, Daniel Massimino, Kaitlyn Becker

Paper: link

Moon BRICCS: Moon blocks using regolith isru for corbelled construction of sustainable shielding

2024 • Conference Paper

Building on the Moon BRICCS class project, we published our concept in IEEE Aerospace. The team analyzed the energy required for alternative forming processes for lunar radiation shielding using in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). The work focuses on leveraging corbelling, a historical construction method, to generate protective radiation shells using glass regolith masonry units. The masonry units are formed using a molten pressed glass process. As part of the paper, I cast a model glass brick using kiln casting.

Rendering of final concept for lunar base showing radiation protection structure.

Cast glass model of masonry unit made in the MIT Glass Lab using lost wax kiln casting techniques.

Model of corbelled structure (left) and cross-section view (right) with inflatable habitat located inside. Rendering courtesy of Juan Salazar and Mikita Klimenta.

Energy analysis of different masonry unit manufacturing technologies.

Diagram of masonry unit pressed glass fabrication process. A gob of glass is sent into the mold and then pressed to crease the trough that is later filled with loose regolith.

Conference: IEEE Aerospace

Contributions:
Energy analysis, concept generation, historical research, manufacturing process development, structural analysis.

Team:
Lanie McKinney, Palak B Patel, Daniel Massimino, Annika Thomas, Juan Salazar, Mikita Klimenka, George Lordos, Cody Paige, Skylar Tibbits, Dava Newman

Paper: link

Reversible joinery methods for full glass vaults made of cast or 3D printed glass components

2025 • Conference Paper

I worked with TU Delft faculty and students on developing alternative joinery methods for dry stacking glass components into vaults. Thomas Bigler and I developed metal, tension-activated kirigami structures based on the work of 3M engineer Tom Corrigan to experimentally measure the effects of sheet thickness on stiffness and strength. Prof. Faidra Oikonomopoulou presented the work at the 2025 IASS Conference in Mexico City.

Activated Kirigami samples prior to compression testing.

Section view of proposed catenary arch. Details show options for both cast and 3D printed glass masonry.

Details of interlocking masonry schemes for both cast and printed masonry.

Conference: International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures

Contributions:
Metal fabrication, material testing, concept generation, data analysis

Team:
Faidra Oikonomopoulou, Daniel Massimino, S Guha, Thomas Bigler, EC van Kessel, T Bristogianni, Kaitlyn Becker

Paper: link

Other Projects

Moon BRICCS

2024 • Class Project

I was part of the inaugural Space Architecture Studio at MIT, led by Professors Jeffrey Hoffman, Nicholas De Monchaux, Dava Newman, and Skylar Tibbits. Our team’s concept utilized molten regolith casting to produce individual masonry units. These units were combined to build large corbelled shell structures, inspired by Mycenaean tombs in Greece, for radiation shielding. Hence the name Moon BRICCS (Moon Blocks Using Regolith ISRU for Corbelled Construction of Sustainable Shielding). We built two demonstrations: an underwater assembly and a robotic assembly of the units shown in the videos to the right.

Render of lunar colony using corbelled structures.

Another view of proposed lunar colony.

Render of single habitation radiation protection. Inflatable space would be inside this structure.

Cast glass model of invdividual masonry unit.

Contributions:
Background research, manufacturing process and structural concept development. Energy calculations, scale glass model casting.

Team:
Mikita Klimenka, Lanie McKinney, Palak Patel, Juan Salazar, Annika Thomas

Advisors:
Cody Paige, Jeffrey Hoffman, George Lordos, Nicholas De Monchaux, Dava Newman, Skylar Tibbits

Rotary table bearing constraint redesign

2024 • Class Project

As part of Professor Alex Slocum’s 2.70 class (FUNdaMENTALS of Machine Design), I investigated a stiffness issue in Evenline’s Glass 3D Printer III (G3DP3). The column affixed to the build plate had experienced significant degradation in stiffness, primarily due to a failure in the rotary stage. As part of the work, I disassembled the stage and identified the culprit: the outer races of the bearings were constrained by screws. I designed a new constraint, machined the existing rotary table platen, shimmed all components, and reassembled the system.

Redesigned bearing constraint shown with 8-bolt hole pattern.

Assembled rotary stage after installing new rotary bearing constraints.

The culprit of the problems! These screws were directly pressing on the outer races of the bearings and were bent over time.

Milling a slot into the existing rotary table top to add clearance for the new constraint.

FEA of the new rotary bearing constraint system. Checking to see if there will be any local failure with the high torques on the center shaft.

Contributions:
Design, microscopy, Structural FEA, machining, overall analysis

Advisors:
Kaitlyn Becker, Alex Slocum

Final presentation: link
Final report: link

Desktop Lathe

2023 • Class project

Class project for 2.72, Elements of Machine Design. As a team, we designed and built a desktop lathe with a hot-swappable tool post. Different tool posts for different materials were mounted on a kinematic coupling that could be removed and re-indexed. The machine was accurate to 0.01” and repeatable to 0.002”.

View of the assembled lathe.

Top down view of the flexure x-drive system for our lathe. Also shown is our tool changer system with separate steel and aluminum tools.

Close up view of the lathe.

Contributions:
FEA structural analysis on the flexure cross-slide. Machining some components. Accuracy and repeatability measurements of final performance.

Team:
Cat Arase, Quang Kieu, Levi Gershon, Aditya Mehrotra, Qifan Yu

Final report: link

Photography

I started taking photography classes while an undergraduate at Columbia. I was a member at the New Orleans Community Printshop and Darkroom. Here are some of the photographs I still think about.

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