2023 CENG Cohort

Duha Ali

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Degree: B.S., Jordan University of Science and Technology, 2015; M.S., Auburn University, 2021; Ph.D., Auburn University, 2023

Research Interest: Customer and User Experience, Human Factors and Ergonomics, Human Machine Interaction

Britta Berg-Johansen

Biomedical Engineering

Degree: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Cal Poly; Joint Ph.D., Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco

Research Interest: Orthopaedic biomechanics, Biomedical image processing, Digital health and wearable devices, Human motion biomechanics

Siavash Farzan

Electrical Engineering 

Degree: B.S., Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, 2010; M.S., University of Missouri-Columbia, 2013; Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021.

Research Interest: Robotics, Controls, Embedded Systems, AI and ML for Robotics

Daniel Frishberg (he/him)

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Degree: B.A., Oberlin College, 2007; M.S., University of California, Irvine, 2020; Ph.D., 2023

Research Interest: Rapidly mixing combinatorial and geometric Markov chains; hierarchical clustering algorithms and their relationship to combinatorial optimization problems; graph simplification; Hanoi graphs, which arise from the Tower of Hanoi puzzle; and graph drawing.

Kun Hua

Electrical Engineering

Degree: 2004.9-2008.5  Ph.D., Computer and Electronics Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA; 2001.9-2004.3 Master, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Xian Jiaoton University, Shaanxi, China; 1995.9-1999.7 Bachelor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University, Shaanxi, China

Research Interest: Communication Systems,AI robotics, IoT-based Smart Vehicles, Connected Vehicles, Vehicular Communications, Cyber-physical Security, Wireless Mobile, Area Networks, Image Video and Medical Signal Processing, Wireless Health Sensor Network 

Seamus Jones

Materials Engineering 

Degree: B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 2017; PhD Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2022.

Research Interest: Design of ionic fluids including the design of ionic liquids, polymeric ionic liquids, and water-soluble organic compounds that undergo reversible oxidation and reduction reactions (so-called 'redoxolytes'), translating these materials into industrial processes in energy storage and greenhouse gas capture.

Leily Majidi

Mechanical Engineering

Degree: B.Sc. University of Mazandaran, 2008, M.Sc. Northeastern University, 2014, PhD. University of Illinois at Chicago, 2021

Derek Manheim

Civil & Environmental Engineering 

Degree: B.S., California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, 2012; M.S., California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, 2012; Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 2019. 

Research Interest:

Biological Systems to Remediate Drinking Water, Climate Impacts of Municipal Solid Waste Landfills, Disaster Waste Management, Algae Biofuel in Conjunction with Wastewater Treatment, Environmental Modeling Applications, Fitting Models to Data (Bayesian Statistics) 

Eric Ocegueda

Mechanical Engineering 

Degree: B.S. University of California, Berkeley 2017, M.S, California Institute of Technology, 2019, Ph.D. California Institute of Technology 2023

Thale Smith

Materials Engineering 

Degree: B.S., Materials Science and Engineering, UC Davis, 2013; Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, UC Davis, 2018.

Hyeonik Song

Mechanical Engineering 

Degree: B.Sc. Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016, M.Sc.Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018 Ph.D. Georgia Institute of Technology 2021

Research Interest: Data Driven Design, Human-Centered Design, Engineering Education

Ramanan Sritharan

Mechanical Engineering 

Degree: B.E. Anna University, 2008, M.S., Wichita State University, 2017, PhD. Wichita State University, 2022

Research Interest: Analytical modeling of nanocomposites, Design fabrication and testing of composites and nanocomposites, Material Characterization 

Ka Yaw Teo

Computer Science and Software Engineering 

Degree: B.S., University of Texas at Arlington; M.S., 2009; M.S., Purdue University, 2012; M.S., University of Texas at Dallas, 2018; Ph.D. 2023

Research Interest: Geometric and combinatorial optimization algorithms, computational geometry such as facility location and motion planning analysis, theoretical investigation of problems in computational geometry to their practical application in biomedical science and engineering.

Giovanni De Francesco

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Degree: B.S. M.S., University of Catania, Italy, 2009; Ph.D., 2013; Registered Professional Engineer, Italy; Chartered Professional Engineer, New Zealand.

Research Interest: Advanced Experimental Testing of Structural and Non-Structural Systems, Low Damage Design and Retrofit of Building and Bridge Structures, Performance-based & Probabilistic Seismic Design and Assessment of Structures, Seismic Isolation and Supplemental Energy Dissipation for Response Control, Practice-oriented & Performance-based Design of Structures to Tsunami Loads