Nearly 200 students are enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Oakland University. Here is a personal introduction to some of them:

NAHED ALNAHASH was born in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. She received a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics in May 2010 from Pittsburg State University,Kansas. In January 2011, she transferred to Texas A&M University-Commerce and was awarded the Master of Science degree with a major in Computer Science in December 2012.

NANCY ALRAJEI is a Ph.D. candidate within the Computer Science and Engineering department. She holds a bachelor's  degree  in information systems  from Palestine Polytechnic University in Palestine, where she  grew up. She earned her M.S. in information systems engineering  from Oakland University  in 2005.  Her research focus is on security in wireless sensor networks, mainly on Energy consumption based  intruder detection in WSN,  information based  intruder detection in WSN, and Fault tolerant systems and network resiliency.  

GEORGE CORSER, a Ph.D. candidate within the Computer Science and Engineering department, holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Princeton University and a master's in computer and information sciences from the University of Michigan-Flint. His current research focuses on Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs), specifically in the areas of security and privacy. In 2012 he wrote two award-winning papers in the fields of network and cyber security and published an educational YouTube channel which currently has over 150 subscribers and 38,000 views. Early in 2013 he developed and published a VANET privacy modeling simulation software program in Python. Prior to joining Oakland University, he managed technical recruiting operations in the United States and South Korea, filling positions for technical professionals, managers and executives worldwide.

SHAMIL HADI is currently working on his Ph.D. in computer science at Oakland University. He received his master’s degree in computer information systems from the University of Michigan.  He received his bachelor’s degree in software engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.  He has been working at the University of Michigan as a researcher/Software Developer. His research interests are in detecting changes in Service Oriented Architectures. The objective of his research was to propose a framework for the automatic detection of changes in SOA's. 

JOHN MEYER is a doctoral candidate from Auburn Hills.  He earned a B.S. in computer engineering and electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and a M.S. in computer science from Oakland University.  His current area of research is in the design of distributed algorithms for autonomic computing.  Over the last half century computing power and the proliferation of computing devices have increased at an exponential rate. This growth, coupled with the explosion of networking and the Internet, ties these disparate devices together. It is difficult to manage today’s computing systems and go beyond the administration of individual software environments. At the present rate of growth the complexity appears to be approaching the limits of human capability. The goal of autonomic computing is to make systems which handle themselves better, allowing them to adapt to a user's needs without the user needing knowledge of the systems inner workings.  

ALLISON ROSSETTO is a computer science doctoral student from Michigan. She earned her B.S. in engineering biology from Oakland University. Her current research interest is computational ligand design for medical applications, which she also plans on pursuing as her thesis. In her spare time, Allison enjoys knitting, swimming, reading, and spending time with her family and pets.

DAVE I SIMS received his B.S. in Computer Science and M.S. in Software Engineering from the University of Michigan – Dearborn. Currently he is seeking a Ph.D. in Computer Science (Medical Image Processing) at the Oakland University and employed as a Senior Software Engineer in the banking industry. 

ASTRID YOUNANG is a second year Ph.D. student within the Computer Science and Engineering department. She was born in Cameroon. She earned a B.S. degree in electronics and computer engineering and a M.S. degree in computer engineering from ESIGELEC, in France. She worked for three years at France Telecom for the Device in Life Management department.  She is a research assistant and her work is on the use of static analysis to detect vulnerabilities and attack in Javascript web applications. Her research interests are data flow and control flow analysis, software testing and automated testing. When she is not at school, Astrid likes hanging out with friends, watch movies and swimming. 

SUZAN ARSLANTURK is a third year computer science and informatics doctoral student. She was born in the Netherlands and grew up in Turkey. She earned a B.A. in computer engineering and a M.S. in computer science. She currently works as a research assistant on a data mining project on clinical data funded by the National Institutes of Health. Her research mainly focuses on techniques leading early treatment and prevention of a urological disease. Her research interests are machine learning, pattern recognition and information security. She is currently the secretary of ACM-W student organization in Oakland University. She likes traveling, being outdoors, swimming and spending time with family and friends.

RAFAT HAMMAD is a Ph.D. candidate studying computer science and informatics at Oakland University. He earned a B.S. in computer science from the University of Jordan and a M.S. in computer science from Central Michigan University. His research interests are in the area of data and information management, with an emphasis on provenance, causality, business intelligence, and reverse data management.

YAHIA JOHN KHELIFA, a computer science and informatics doctoral student, earned a Master’s of Science degree in computer and information science from the University of Michigan in 2003 and a Bachelor’s of Science in computer science from the University of Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria in 1992. His research interest focuses on complex networks and Big Data (to include Online Social Networks and the Internet), their topologies and their emergence in nature, as well as their evolution, the need to extract complex structure, dynamics and their underlying organizing principles. Yahia lives in Rochester Hills. He is married and has a ten year-old son.

IBRAHIM KHOURY received his B.S. degree in business information systems from the University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan, in 2007, and the M.S. degree in information, network and computer security from the New York Institute of Technology, New York, in 2009. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in computer science and informatics at Oakland University. He has more than 4 years in technical experience mainly as System Administrator, Network Administrator at FineTasteCo Company, Amman, Jordan; and Database design and system analyst at Metropolitan Transportation Authority MTA, New York. He is currently working as a research assistant with his advisor, Dr. Mike Wu. His research mainly focuses on the composition, integration and optimization of medical web services on cloud-based Healthcare systems. His research interests also include software engineering, web services, e-healthcare systems, cloud computing, and software testing.

SANGSIG KIM is a Ph.D. candidate studying computer science and informatics at Oakland University. He received his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in computer software from Myongji University, Korea in 2008 and 2006, respectively. During his undergraduate and master programs, he participated in the Substation Automation System (IEC 61850) project funded by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). His research interests include design patterns, access control modeling, IEC 61850 based substation automation system, and a smart grid. He is a student member of the IEEE. 

BYUNGHUN LEE is a Ph.D. student studying computer science and informatics at Oakland University. He received the M.S. in Computer Engineering and BEE in Computer Software Engineering from Myongji University, Korea in 2012 and 2010, respectively. During his undergraduate and master programs, he participated in the IEC 61850 based Digital Substation project funded by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). His research interests include a smart grid. He is a student member of the IEEE.

JARED OLUOCH is a Ph.D. student of computer science and informatics. He received his M.S. degree in management information systems from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His current research focuses on developing a comprehensive model for trust management in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANET). Jared was the lead author of a conference paper that studied the impacts of collaborative wormhole attacks in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET).  Jared believes we can all individually play our roles, in our small ways, to make the world a better place than we found it. At his free time, Jared likes to listen to slow and sentimental music, and to jog a little bit.

SUSAN SABRA was born and raised in Lebanon. She received a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 1998 from Lawrence Technological University and a master’s degree in computer science and engineering from Oakland University in 2001. She has held a part-time lecturer position at OU for over a year, teaching various computer science courses. She was a lecturer for six years at Ahlia University in the kingdom of Bahrain after working for two years as an IT system analyst for Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia. She is a certified professional with ITIL, Balanced Scorecard and HITPro (Healthcare IT workflow redesign practitioner). She delivered many IT management training sessions for IT professionals and managers in Bahrain. Susan has been a fulltime Ph.D. student within the CSE department since September 2012 and works with her advisor, Dr. Chingseh (Mike) Wu. She is a member of IEEE.Her research area is healthcare services in cloud computing focusing on the performance measures to improve QoS (Quality of Service) in the cloud service delivery. 

RAMI ABOUSLEIMAN is a doctoral candidate within the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. He holds a B.S. in computer and communication engineering from the American University of Science and Technology (Lebanon, 2006) and a M.S. in electrical and computer engineering from Oakland University (Aug. 2009). Rami works as an optimization control and algorithm engineer at the electrified powertrain group at Chrysler Group in Auburn Hills. He is interested in metaheuristic optimizations, embedded system design, robotics, and aerial vehicles. He likes RC planes and cars, traveling and playing basketball. 

FATMA ALAZABI received a B.S. and M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 2003 and 2008 from University of Tripoli, Libya, and now she is a Ph.D. candidate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Oakland University. She has worked as a teacher assistance at University of Tripoli, Aljfara Branch, Libya and Oakland University. Her research interest is applied nonlinear control theories and estimation algorithms to mathematical biological systems. In particular, her research focuses on virus infection models such as HIV-1 and HSV-1. In her research, controlling designs are developed and demonstrated to show their effectiveness in stabilizing the HIV-1 system’s dynamics and also reducing the viral level. Her research can be a key to explain some unknown features and promote drug treatment decisions for both HIV-1 and HSV-1 infection diseases. Fatma’s hobbies are travelling, watching news and cooking.

AHMED AL-MURAEB is a first year doctoral student in electrical engineering. He earned his Bachelor’s of Science in electronics and communication engineering from the University of Baghdad (UOB), Iraq, in 2000. He earned a Master’s of Science from the Institute of Laser for Postgraduate Studies/UOB, Iraq, in 2004, in laser applications/electronics and communication engineering. He worked as a lecturer of optical fiber communication for fifth level in the Information Engineering Department/UOB, Iraq, for two semesters. He has eight years of experience in GSM Cellular RAN, working for Zain-Iraq, MOTOROLA, and Nokia Siemens Networks. His experience lies in RAN operation and maintenance, digital MW systems, OMC-R Sun platforms Operation and Administration, RAN DB, VAS Platforms operation and services configuration, and the related IT/Telecom skills (Oracle DB, Solaris Shell scripting, C++, VBA, etc.).  Ahmed’s area of research is in tunable solid-state lasers, specifically the use of them in Photonic Crystal Lattices. Ahmed was born and grew up in Iraq before coming to the United States in 2012. His hobbies include enjoying fusion/classical/traditional music, painting, reading literature, watching movies, hanging out with friends and meeting new people.

ABDULLAH AL-REFAI is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at Oakland University. He received his master’s in Computer Engineering from Oakland University in 2012 and his bachelor’s in computer engineering from Yarmouk University (Irbid- Jordan) in 2010. Abdullah is currently working in the Embedded Systems Lab as s research assistant at Oakland University. He joined the Embedded Systems Lab and Aerial Systems Club in the Fall 2010 and he is interested in embedded system design, robotics and aerial vehicles. He is the president of Aerial System Club.

TRI DOAN is a doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechatronics engineering from Vietnam National University, Vietnam. Then, he worked for Vietnam National Key Lab for two years as a digital control engineer. At that time, he was really interested in embedded electrical systems, so he decided to pursue his M.S of embedded electrical and computer system engineering at San Francisco State University. After that, he wanted to challenge himself one more time by pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, which is totally different from his background. Tri strongly believes if you really fall in love with something, it will no longer be difficult. He joined into Oakland University in 2013, and is currently working as RA in biomedical imaging with Dr. Jing Tang. His research is focusing on image reconstruction for PET (Positron Emission Tomography). He likes travelling, fishing, swimming, and hanging out with friends.

NAHEL ESHAQ received his bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Wayne State University. His master’s degree in electrical engineering is also from Wayne State. He is pursuing a Ph.D. from Oakland University, in electrical engineering, under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Aloi.

MODAR HORANI is a doctoral candidate from Syria within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Modar holds a B.S. and M.S. in electrical and computer engineering from Aleppo University and the University of Detroit Mercy in 2006 and 2010 respectively. Modar has more than 5 years of industry experience mainly in Automotive Infotainment systems while working as a senior test manager at P3 Group. Modar had worked for various automotive OEMs in Germany, England, and the United States. His research focus is image processing, robotics, and real-time embedded systems, especially for the importance of intelligent embedded vision machines that could be built after researching and imitating the tremendous capabilities of the human eyes. 

ROHOLLAH MAZRAE KHOSHKI is a first year doctoral student in electrical engineering. He earned a M.S. in electronic engineering, with a 4.0 grade point average, from Razi University in Kermanshah, Iran. He worked on the design of Static Excitation Equipment and the Startup Frequency Converter of power plant generators using PLC and the SIMATIC manager software under the license of SIEMENS. He also worked on a number of projects using AVR Atmel microcontrollers. He studied and modified incubator and phototherapy systems by using Atmel AVR Microcontrollers. Incubator systems maintained and monitored the temperature of newborns. Phototherapy systems are instrumental in early detection and treatment of jaundice in babies. Rohollah worked on the design and implementation of optical fiber and wireless links. Rohollah is interested in embedded systems, FPGA, image processing and electro-optical circuits design in research and practical applications. In his free time, he enjoys skiing and playing soccer.

SHENG KUNG received his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan, and his master’s degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University as well as his M.S.E. in computer, information and control engineering from the University of Michigan. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at Oakland University under the supervision of Professor (Coach) M. Zohdy on face and human action recognition. His research interests include machine learning, computer vision, and statistical pattern recognition. He is currently on the University of Michigan Development staff.  He was previously a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University and a research analyst for Chrysler Corporation on warranty data mining and quality analysis.

LINCOLN LORENZ is a Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering at Oakland University from Michigan. He graduated from Kettering University with a Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering with minors in applied mathematics and computer science. Lincoln was a co-op in the PLC firmware division of GE Fanuc, where he completed his undergraduate thesis. He also previously worked as a co-op writing bolt inspection system software at Sigmatec. His research interests include high-level synthesis, FPGAs, microprocessor design, embedded systems, machine vision, and robotics. His current research is in a high-level synthesis tool called Flowpaths which aims to simplify the hardware design process to produce high speed circuits in FPGAs. He is a member of the Oakland Robotics Association which participates in the International Ground Vehicle Competition. When he's not doing research he enjoys snowboarding, camping, cooking, and watching indie movies.

DARIUSZ MIKULSKI is a Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering and military ground robotics researcher.  He is advancing the state-of-the-art in mathematical models and algorithms for computational trust and trust-based controls.  His contributions include a new game theoretic framework for trust-based coalition formation as well as an efficient computational trust algorithm designed specifically for robotics applications.  His motivation to pursue this research area stems from a desire to protect our nation's Warfighters from new trust-based vulnerabilities related to cyber attacks directed at military unmanned systems.  Dariusz earned his B.S.E. in computer science (2003) from the University of Michigan and his M.S. in computer science and engineering (2006) from Oakland University.  He lives in Rochester Hills with his wife and daughter, and loves spending lots of quality time with them doing nothing in particular.

HESHAM ODAT is a second year Ph.D. student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Oakland University. He was born in Jordan. He came to the U.S.A in 2002 and earned two Associate degrees from Oakland Community College in Pre-Engineering and Science. He earned his B.S. and M.S. form Oakland University. He is currently a project manager in Automotive Software at Elektrobit. His research interest is in V2X (vehicle-to-vehicle) communications. His research goal is to improve vehicle driving safety including advanced driver assistance systems, intersection safety and rear-end collision warning amongst other features. His research can be a key to advance and enhance the collision avoidance technology. His research motive came from his injury as a result of a car accident.

SIMON OMEKANDA is a second year doctoral student in controls engineering.  He earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania State University (PSU), where he played four years on the varsity soccer team.  He earned a M.S. from Oakland University in electrical and computer engineering and has worked as a teaching and research assistant for four semesters.  Simon’s area of research is in nonlinear control of internal combustion engines and electric motors, specifically permanent magnet synchronous motors, using observers in automotive powertrain.  Part of his research is in the application of model reduction techniques for powetrain control.  His research is aimed at providing new techniques for state estimation in nonlinear control schemes and in the simplification of control algorithms by utilizing model order reduction methods.  Simon was born in Morrocco but grew up in Belgium before coming to the U.S. in 1995.  Prior to completing his M.S., he played professional soccer overseas for three years-- two in Sweden and one in Belgium.  His hobbies include coaching youth soccer, watching interesting documentaries, working out, hanging out with friends and meeting new people.

TODD A. PERKINS is a  second year Ph.D. student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department.  He earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at Howard University.  After spending nearly 20 years in the broadcast, automotive and telecommunications industry, he left to pursue a M.S. and Ph.D. at Oakland University.  Under the ‘coaching’ of Dr. M.A. Zohdy, his working dissertation title is Adaptive Nonlinear Control of Clutch Engagement in Modern Automotive Transmissions.  His current research includes piecewise linear (PWL) modeling, State Space modeling, nonlinear Adaptive Controls and Simulink modeling.  Todd enjoys working as a Teaching Assistant and teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) outreach camps to K-12 students.  In this spare time -- as if Ph.D. students have any -- Todd enjoys traveling, DJing house music, motorcycles and anything automotive related.

JAMES QUINLAN is no stranger to Oakland University, having earned his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.C.E. here and also having worked many years in the Electronics Services Office.  He is currently a Ph.D. candidate researching the area of multipath mitigating GPS antenna arrays while employed as a Lead Laboratory Engineer.  James also has passions for circuit design, printed circuit board technologies, instrumentation, statistical graphic design, and scientific weight training.

MICHO RADOVNIKOVICH earned his B.S. in electrical engineering in 2007, and his M.S. in systems engineering in 2009 from Oakland University.  He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at Oakland, and expects to graduate in Fall 2013.  His dissertation research involves formation control and communication security of groups of multiple unmanned ground vehicles.  His research interests include robotics, novel applications of optimal control theory, high-speed implementation of algorithms on FPGAs, and cryptography on embedded systems.

WILLIAM SOMMERVILLE is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering who lives in Lake Orion.  He received a B.S.E.E. degree from Kettering University in Flint in 2005 and a M.S.E.C.E. degree from Oakland University in 2007.  His undergraduate thesis was titled, "Integrated MEMS Single Chip MEMS AM Radio Receiver" and was competed at Sandia National Laboratories in Alburquerque, New Mexico.  He has since worked in the automotive and renewable energy fields doing industrial controls and system validation work.  He is currently Chief Technology Officer for OPS Solutions, LLC, a small but rapidly growing company located in Novi that enables large gains in quality and throughput in manual operations relating to manufacturing with Light Guide Systems.  His research interests include system modeling and control for next generation flexible manufacturing systems.  His professional goal is to reinvent manufacturing jobs in this country and around the world so that decent people can earn a decent living no matter what background they may have come from.  He is an active volunteer in IEEE, serving on several boards and committees internationally, and he also serves on the board of a local not-for-profit called the Square One Education Network, igniting the interests of K-12 student in the STEM fields.  He is married to another Oakland graduate and has two wonderful kids.

ALI ALSHARA is a Ph.D. candidate within the Mechanical Engineering department. He is a Process Metallurgist at Advanced Heat Treat Corp. in Monroe, MI. He graduated from Central Connecticut State University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology in May, 2004.  He graduated with a Master of Science in Computer Aided Engineering from Eastern Michigan University in December, 2008.  His research interest is in the tribological and fatigue properties of nitrided surfaces for crankshafts and new crankshaft alloys.

XU CHEN is a Ph. D. candidate of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Oakland University. He is currently working in the Optical Measurement and Quality Inspection Laboratory leaded by Prof. Lianxiang Yang. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Tianjin University, China. After that, he continued his studies at OU and got his master’s degree in 2010. During his studies in OU, he focused on Digital Image Correlation (DIC), a modern technique for full-field 3D shape, displacement and strain measurement. In the past several years, he devoted himself in developing the system and expanding the application of DIC. His main work includes: high temperature (over 1200ºC) strain measurement supported by the US Air Force and full-field strain behaviour analysis on steels supported by DoE. As an enthusiastic researcher, he has already published seven research papers (3 journal and 4 conference papers) and received the ‘Best Poster Award’ from the North American Deep Drawing Research Group in 2012.

YI-HSIN CHEN is Ph. D, candidate within the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Oakland University. He is working in the Optical Measurement and Quality Inspection Laboratory leaded by Prof. Lianxiang Yang. He obtained his bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from Feng Chia University, Taiwan. He received his master degree in mechanical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, NJ. He has more than 22 years working experience in automobile industry including heat treatment process, vehicle CAE and Powertrain CAE. His expertise is on durability/fatigue virtual analysis of powertrain structure components. His research interests in OU include optical measurements, experimental stress/strain analysis, and 3D full-field residue stress analysis with depth effect utilizing Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique. He has already published three research papers (one journal papers and 2 conference papers) in fatigue field.

RAMY IBRAHIM is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. In 2011, he received his M.S. from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Under supervision from Dr. Lorenzo Smith, he focuses on various aspects of conventional and advanced sheet metal forming technologies. His recent publications include springback analysis and necessary practices for stamping die design in high speed forming. In cooperative work with Ford Motor Company, his current projects involve enhanced usage of FEM in blank-die interactions simulations, especially in solving the contact/impact numerical problems with explicit solvers. This work provides guidance on proper use of FE analysis for metal forming engineers. Before pursuing his career in the academic field, Ramy spent several years in the petroleum oil industry as reliability and loss control engineer, where he gained diverse skills and strong professional experience.

KRISTOPHER INMAN is a doctoral student in mechanical engineering. He received his Bachelors and Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Oakland University.  His academic areas of research are mass and thermal transport as well as numerical modeling of PEM fuel cells. His other areas of interest are lithium chemistry batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles. Kristopher is also president of OU's IAHE student chapter. He also works as a consultant/engineer in the field of electric and hybrid vehicle batteries and systems. In his free time Kristopher enjoys astronomy, mountain biking, and building overly complicated golf carts.

AMIR KAZEMI is a doctoral candidate from Iran. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science in mechanical engineering from Shiraz University, Iran. He earned his Master’s of Science in the field of applied mechanics at the University of Tabriz, Iran; and built a solid foundation in the basics of Finite Element Methods (FEM), Failure and Stress Analysis, Structural Design Optimization, Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics. Amir began his Ph.D. at Oakland University in 2011 and joined Fastening and Joining Research Institute (FAJRI), which is the only known academic facility of its kind in the world. He currently works as a Research Assistant on "Multiaxial Fatigue Behavior of Bolted Joints" as a continuation of NASA Project. This research significantly impacts the safety and reliability of many mechanical and structural systems such as automotive and aerospace industry. He likes traveling, hanging out with friends, meeting new people and watching movies.

JAMES LEIDEL has been involved in the energy and energy management industries since 1990. That same year, he received his BSME from Purdue University. He later received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and is completing his mechanical engineering Ph.D. dissertation at Oakland University. His Ph.D. research involves the prototyping and analysis of a building-integrated hybrid thermal-electric solar collector and net zero building energy system which makes use of this.  In 2011, James helped create and launch the Clean Energy Research Center within the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Oakland University, and he then moved over to be the new Director of Clean Energy Systems.

MONICA MAJCHER is currently a Ph.D. student working under the guidance of Dr. Zissimos Mourelatos in mechanical engineering.  Monica completed her B.S.M.E. at OU, worked as an intern at GM during her summer breaks, and graduated in 2008.  After working in the Transmission Systems Research and Development Group at BorgWarner and then as the Research Technician Lead for the Human Neuromechanics Lab at the University of Michigan, Monica decided to return to OU for her M.S.M.E. and Ph.D.  She has been a research assistant in the Automotive Tribology Center since Fall 2010, analyzing the mechanism of scuffing and developing a statistical model of the surface roughness of the contacting materials. Her areas of interest are metamodeling, tribology, accelerated testing, reliability of dynamic systems, validation and verification, vehicle safety and mechanical vibrations.  When not doing research, Monica also enjoys participating in some engineering outreach programs to share her passion for engineering with middle and high school students.  In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, running, playing tennis, downhill skiing, watching an interesting TV show or movie, reading, painting, cooking, and volunteering in her community. 

MURPH O’DEA is a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering, with a specific focus on spectral methods in computational fluid dynamics.  He received his BSME from Michigan Tech, and his MSME from the University of Central Florida.  Murph works as a consulting engineer in the facility commissioning and automation field, based in Metro Detroit.  His research focus is currently the optimization of turbine placement in large-scale wind farm deployments.  Research includes the use of an efficient, spectral element-based CFD analysis to develop improved performance metrics for use in a wind farm optimization program.  The objective is to improve the economics and viability of renewable wind energy.  Murph’s hobbies include travel, downhill skiing, and spending time with his wife and daughter.

KERRI SAKAI, a mechanical engineering doctoral candidate, earned an associate degree in general studies from Macomb Community College in 2003, transferred to Lawrence Tech University and received dual degrees of Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and physics in 2007. She continued at LTU for a M.S. in mechanical engineering, specializing in thermal sciences in 2010. She began at Oakland University in 2011 and joined Fastening and Joints Research Institute (FAJRI) in summer 2012. Her research area is fastener and joints, specifically the study of bonded joints with adhesives. With this research, society will become safe and secure without bolts and joints failures. It will "green" society with optimizing the use of bolts and joint materials, and with the new technologies with adhesives. Kerri is from Tokushima, Japan. She lives in Rochester, Michigan and is married and busy with three girls.

BERNARD SIA is a Ph.D. candidate within the Department of Mechanical Engineering working under the guidance of Dr. LianXiang Yang.  He earned a dual Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor in 2006, then earned a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan – Dearborn in 2009.  He currently works as a mechanical engineer in the defense industry, with a focus on the structural analysis of bridges and other gap crossing equipment, load classification of bridges and military vehicles, and the use of advanced materials for structural applications.  Through his work, he has written two papers and has provided a number of presentations on his analytical work.  He also is a member of a number of working groups in the areas of design/ testing of military bridges and load classification of bridges.   His research interests include experimental stress/ strain analysis, non-destructive evaluation, and damage detection, health monitoring, and fatigue of structures under varied load conditions.   His current focus is the use of Digital Image Correlation for full-field displacement and strain measurements during high speed events.

ALI NASIR TAFRESHI is a Mechanical Engineering doctoral candidate from Iran. He received his B.S. from Mechanical Engineering after studying at Sharif University in Iran and Fachhochschule-Aachen in Germany. He also earned his M.S. in Energy Engineering from RWTH Aachen, Germany. During his studies, he was a research assistant in FEV Co. and the department of Internal Combustion Engine (VKA) in Aachen. He started his Ph.D. at Oakland University in 2012. His current research is using Hardware in the Loop Simulation for thermal modeling on internal combustion engines. This project is in cooperation with Chrysler. Ali's hobbies are swimming, playing the guitar, and diving.

SAAD ALDOIHI is Ph.D. student in systems engineering. He received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in engineering from Lawrence Tech University. Saad’s research interests are Design for X (where x is variable for Usability, Manufacturability, Quality, Environment, etc.), the impact of technology on society, and the creation of wealth through technology.  Outside the school, Saad enjoys world traveling, reading and dining with his lovely wife, Mona. 

JAMES BECHTEL is a doctoral student pursuing a Ph.D. in systems engineering. He earned a B.S. in computer science from Texas State University.  He also earned a MBA from Texas A&M-Texarkana and a M.S. in computer science and engineering from Oakland University.  James’ research interests include sensor based technologies, time-series data analysis, data mining methodologies, machine learning/predictive algorithms and decision support systems to ultimately mature Vehicle Health Management and Condition Based Maintenance capabilities for ground systems.

MEREDITH DENEWETH is an industrial and systems engineering doctoral candidate from Waterford, Michigan. She graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in industrial engineering. Meredith earned her M.S. in vehicle design and manufacturing from Central Michigan University.  Her research interests include supply chain modeling and simulation. Meredith’s dissertation will examine the flexibility and risk involved in supply chains.  She currently serves as the president of Oakland’s gold winning IIE chapter and frequently volunteers with local community groups. In her spare time, Meredith is an avid runner, craft beer enthusiast, and world traveler.  

HARRY HUANG can trace the start of his engineering journey back to his early childhood. He built and assembled numerous electronic and mechanic "toys" without education and only instinct and an interest of discovering the unknown. Harry graduated with a B.S. in electrical engineering from Chongqing University in Chongqing, China. He earned a M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Detroit Mercy. He is a registered professional engineer and licensed in the State of Michigan. As a first year systems engineering doctoral student, Harry's preliminary areas of study are in system approach of lean and re-configurable large scaled robotic manufacturing systems, digital modeling and simulation for World Class Manufacturing process analysis, validation and ergonomic evaluation. Born in Chengdu, China, Harry currently resides in Rochester Hills. During his free time he loves travel, watching movies, playing basketball with friends, having good conversations and learning from the young generation. He looks forward to building his dream house. 

AVINASH KONKANI is a doctoral candidate who expects to graduate in 2014. He earned a B.E. and a M.S. in biomedical engineering from Karnatak University in India and Wright State University in 2001 and 2005 respectively. His research area is human factors in the healthcare system. His research has a direct impact on patient safety and occupational safety. An increase in noise levels has become a performance obstacle for the nursing staff. It also has a deleterious effect on patients’ healing processes and increases the duration of a patient's stay in the hospital. Avinash is working to find best possible low cost methods to reduce hospital noise levels and to provide for a better healing and work environment. To solve the problem, he is applying the systems engineering and human factors approach. Avinash is a bio-medical and human factors engineer, so his research is related to human factors and is also related to medical devices.  He is from Belgaum in Karnataka, India.

DEEPA SHARMA is a Ph.D. student within the ISE Department. She received her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and her master's degree in production and industrial engineering from Jodhpur, India. She has been in the teaching profession since 1992, until joining OU. Before joining OU, she was a lecturer in Delhi College of Engineering (now DTU) in Delhi, India. Her research area is Reliability analysis of complex systems and Agent based modeling, Bayesian Belief network. Cooking and reading (nonfiction) are her passions. She devotes a lot of time to these two activities.

CHRISTOPHER SLON is a fourth year systems engineering doctoral student.  He has lived coast to coast including Buffalo, NY (where he grew up); Ithaca, NY (where he started his bachelor’s); San Diego, CA (where he discovered his affinity for the beach); Baltimore, MD (where his wife went to graduate school), and Southeast Michigan (where he finally took root).  He earned his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at San Diego State University and a Master’s of Science in manufacturing systems engineering at the University of Michigan.  He currently works at Chrysler where he has held a series of increasingly responsible positions spanning the automotive product development cycle.  Throughout his professional career he has wrestled with the problems of extracting useful knowledge from large amounts of complex data.  He started his Ph.D. studies in computer science and engineering at Oakland University in 2009 and plans to conduct research in machine learning applied to manufacturing process data.  Outside of work and school, Chris indulges a love of vocal performance and has been a member of Madrigal Chorale since 1994.  He attributes having any shred of sanity left in his life to the love and support of his extraordinary wife and three splendid children.

HAN ZHONG is a doctoral student in systems engineering, under the supervision of Dr. Barbara Oakley. Han received her B.E. in bioengineering from Dalian University of Technology in China, and M.S. in plant biology from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Her current research is the neurological basis of pathological altruism and narcissistic personality disorder. Han likes cooking, watching history documentaries, biking and traveling.