PhD Students
Mr.
Koc is a PhD student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University
of Houston. Deniz was born in Ankara/Turkey in 1997. He received his BS degree
in Mechanical Engineering at the Middle East Technical University in 2021. His
current research is focused on modeling and control of soft robots, including
robotic fish, manta ray, jellyfish, and soft cuff devices. During his free time,
he likes to travel and walk around beautiful places and to watch movies and
sport games. Email:
denizcan.koc1@gmail.com
Mr
Masood got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechatronics Engineering from
National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan. Having a
multidisciplinary background he has been actively contributing in MEMS Research
Group and Unmanned System Group, and got publication is various journals and
conference proceeding. He has a research and development experience in country’s
first of its kind National Center of Robotics and Automation, where as a Team
Lead in Robot Design and Development Lab, he lead many commercial projects for
local industry as well as government organizations. Now, Mr Masood is a part of
BRCL at UoH, as PhD student as motivated researcher in bio-inspired robotics.
Mr. Masood is the lab manager who assists Dr. Chen
for managing the equipment in the BRCL.
Mr.
Zhu is a PhD student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University
of Houston. He was born in China. He received his bachelor degree in Packaging
Engineering at Jilin University in 2018. Then he got the master degree in
Mechanical Engineering at the George Washington University in 2020. After
graduating from GWU, Qiang worked as a mechanical engineer in Huawei Technology,
designed robust mechanical systems for Huawei’s products. Qiang likes
snowboarding, hiking and photography. He is now a part of BRCL, focuses on
control, navigation, and visual servoing control of undersea robotics. Email:
qzhu21@cougarnet.uh.edu
PhD Alumni
Dr.
Kaaya was a PhD student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Houston. Theophilus was born in Uganda. He
received his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston
and is currently researching on ways to design wings of bio-inspired robotic
manta rays using soft materials. Theophilus also loves teaching and spends some
of his time tutoring as well as inspiring students to continue pursuing STEM
related subjects. During his leisure time he plays the piano, sings, or plays
board games. Email:
kaayatheophilus@gmail.com.
After his graduation in 2023, Dr. Kaaya joined Boeing as a propulsion engineer.
Dr.
Wang was a PhD student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the
University of Houston. He was born in Hubei, China. He received his MS degree in
Mechanical engineering from the HeFei University of Technology, and BS degree in
Mechanical Manufacturing and Automation from the Huazhong Agricultural
University, China in 2018 and 2015, respectively. During his free time, he likes
hiking and traveling around the world. At BRCL, He was focused on neural-network
based self-sensing of dielectric elastomer and looking for a practical approach
that could integrate the self-sensing with feedback control of DE
material. After his graduation in 2022, Dr. Wang joined BKO Services as an
Analystics Engineer. Email:
sambin_wang@yaoo.com
Dr.
Zuo was the lab manager of BRCL. He was born in China in 1991. He is currently a
PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston. He received
his BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Toledo. His research at BRCL was focused on optimal design and control of robotic
fish enabled by
servos and smart materials.
Dr. Zuo graduated from BRCL in April 2022. After his graduation,
Dr. Zuo joined UH Energy as a postdoc research fellow.
Email: leftzwy@gmail.com.
Xiongfeng Yi
Dr.
Yi was born in Wuhan, China in 1993. He received his MS degree in Fluid
Mechanics engineering from the Brown University, Providence, RI and BS
degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Dalian University of Technology in
China. His research at BRCL was focused on modeling, localization,
navigation, and visual servoing control of Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)
and 4-DOF robotic arm. He graduated in Dec. 2021 from BRCL. After
graduation, Dr. Yi joined ArcBest Corp as a robotics engineer in 2022. Email:
Xiongfeng_yi@alumni.brown.edu
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Alicia Keow
Dr. Keow was born in Malaysia.
Dr. Keow received her BS degree in Electrical
Engineering at Wichita State University in 2016. She received her PhD degree in
Mechanical Engineering at the University of in August 2021. Her research at BRCL
was focused on modeling and control of hydrogen systems including renewable
energy storage and buoyancy control for underwater vehicels. After she
graduated, Dr. Keow joined Sandia National Lab as a postdoc. Email:
aliciakeow@gmail.com
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Zhihang Ye
Dr. Ye was
born in China. He received his Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering from
Shandong University in China in 2008. He got his Master Degree in Control
Science and Engineering from Tongji University in 2012. In August 2017, Dr. Ye
received his PhD degree in Electrical Engineering at Wichita State University.
His research interest was focused on Smart Materials, Control Systems, and
Bio-inspired Robotics. Dr. Ye received a Maggie Sawan Fellowship in 2014. Dr. Ye
is currently working as an engineer at Bozhilin Robotics in China. Email:
zhihang@gmail.com
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Master
Alumini
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Rahul J. Venkatraman
Mr.
Venkatraman received his MS degrees in Aerospace Engineering
and Space Architecture at the University of Houston and his BS degree from
Texas A&M University. Rahul was born and raised in the States. At BCRL,
he researched methods of using dielectric elastomers and other soft
robotic materials for active garments and wearable devices in spaceflight
and medical applications. Rahul has spent a brief time as a systems engineer
at NASA and as a STEM educator at Space Center Houston and iFLY. Currently,
Rahul is working at NASA Johnson Space Center as Level of Effort (LOE)
Systems Integration Engineer in spacecraft command and telemetry for the
Artemis, Gateway, and Crew Space Transportation (CST) programs. In
particular, Rahul is overseeing support of telemetry product delivery
between spacecraft (Orion MPCV, SLS launch vehicle, Boeing Starliner, and
Human Landing System (HLS)) and Mission Control Center.
Email:
rahul.j.venkatraman@nasa.gov.
Yejin Wi
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Ms.
Wi was born in South Korea in 1995. She is current a Master's student studying
Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston. She received her BS degree
in Mechanical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Her
current research at BRCL is focused on visual tracking, localization and control
of Unmanned Vehicle. Email: dpwls911@gmail.com
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Tushar Nagpure
Mr.
Nagpure was born in India in 1991. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical
Engineering
from Nagpur University in 2012. He received his M.S. degree in Electrical
Engineering at Wichita State University in 2015. His research was focused on modeling and
control of ionic polymer-metal composite enabled hydrogen production. Email:
tcnagpure@wichita.edu . Mr. Nagpure
is currenty working as an electrical engineer in Kairos Technologies Inc.
Tianxu Yang
Mr. Yang was born in China, 1988. Mr Yang received his M.S. degree in Electrical
Engineering from Wichita State University 2015. His research was focused on
development of 2D maneuverable robotic fish propelled by multi-IPMC artificial
fins. Mr. Yang currently is working as an Electrical Engineer
at China Telecom Americas in Los Angeles. Email:
txyang2@wichita.edu
Mr.
Hou was born in China. He received his BS degree in Electrical Engineering from
Wichita State University (WSU) in 2014. Mr. Hou was an undergraduate research
assistant in Mechanical Engineering department at WSU. His research was focused
on simulation and optimization of micro-thermoelectric cooler and micro
generator. Mr. Hou joined the BRCL in 2015 as a master student. His research was
focused on development of highly manuverable bio-inspired robotic fish. Mr. Hou
received his MS degree in Electrical Engineering from WSU in 2016. Mr. Hou is
currently working as an electrical engineer at Unipower-Powering Technology in
Miami, Florida. Email:
peiqi17@gmail.com
Mr.
Sandeep Reddy Chitti was born in India in 1994. He earned his Bachelor’s degree
in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from SR Engineering College in 2015.
He received his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering at Wichita State
University in 2017. His research is mainly focused on design and development of
cooperatively controllable Bio-Inspired Robotic Manta Ray. Email:
sxchitti1@wichita.edu. Mr. Chitti is
currently working as an engineer at Pfizer.
Undergratuate
Alumni
Amy Mayhall
Ms.
Mayhall is a senior studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of
Houston. As part of the summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)
program, she is working with Ms. Keow to develop the model which will serve as
the basis for model predictive control (MPC) of an integrated power management
system consisting of a wind turbine, electrolyzer, metal hydride storage, and
hydrogen fuel cell. Upon graduation, Ms. Mayhall hopes to begin a PhD in
Mechanical Engineering ancontinue her research in the fields of renewable energy
and sustainability. Email:
aemayhall@gmail.com
Samuel Akinwande
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Mr.
Akinwande was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He is a sophomore in Mechanical
Engineering at the University of Houston. His research at BRCL is
focused on bouyancy control of robotic fish. Email:
akinwande.samuel.90@gmail.com
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Can Ardic
Mr.
Ardic was born in Turkey but raised Texan. He earned his Bachelor’s of Science
in Biochemistry from Boston College, but after studying medicine for 2 years, he
decided to pursue engineering instead. As he is new to the field, he is excited
and eager to learn. He is currently taking engineering classes to bolster his
knowledge and he hopes to delve into more research on bio-inspired robotics. He
is currently pursuing original methods of underwater locomotion involving smart
materials. Email: ardiccan@gmail.com
Joel Chavali
Joel
is senior Mechanical Engineering student at University of Houston. He
started research on a soft robotic finger using pneumatic actuation in the
Fall of 2018 under the Provost Undergraduate Research Scholarship (PURS)
program. He works as a Teaching Assistant for Introduction to Mechanical
Design course offered by the Mechanical Engineering department and
specializes in producing and presenting workshops for project management,
Arduino electronics control, and design consultations for the students
throughout the semester. In addition he works in the 3D Printing Workshop
where printing is done for undergraduate classes (which includes Intro to
Mechanical Design) and graduate research projects. Joel plans to graduate in
May 2020 with the Mechanical Engineering degree along with minors in Math
and Energy and Sustainability.
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Jonathan Liu
Mr.
Liu was born in Seattle, Washington to first-generation immigrants from China.
He is currently studying mechanical engineering as an undergraduate at the
University of Houston. His field of research under Dr. Zheng Chen will include
drone flight control in conjunction with precise placement of remote sensors. At
the university, Jonathan works guiding other undergraduate students as a physics
peer facilitator and also as a technical assistant at the Moores Opera House. He
is fluent in Mandarin as well as English and enjoys hobbies such as
blacksmithing and woodworking while participating as an active member of the
university choirs. Jonathan hopes to pursue his love for innovation, passion for
physics, and drive to work with his hands through his research. Email:
jonathandjliu@hotmail.com
William Haase
Mr.
Haase is a junior Mechanical Engineering student planning on pursing a career in
either nuclear power or the biomedical field. Under the guidance of Dr. Chen he
will be researching the development of artificial muscle for biomedical
application. Specifically, Mr. Haase is developing a prototype of EAP enabled
heart assist device. Email:
willhaase@earthlink.net
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Kai Loh
Mr.
Loh was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia for 14 years before moving to
Texas. He is currently an undergraduate student pursuing a Bachelor of Science
in Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Houston. He is
working on underwater bio-mimetic propulsion involving smart materials as part
of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program in 2019. Email:
kyloh@uh.edu
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Javier Carretero Murillo
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Mr.
Carretero Murillo was born in Mexico in 1998. He is currently a Junior
studying Mechanical Engineering. He is working on a soft bio-inspired
underwater robot as
part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program in 2019. The focus of his research is on
the engineering mechanisms for buoyancy
control and underwater propulsion. Email:
javiercarretero2@gmail.com
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Louis Gomez
Mr. Gomez
was born in Nigeria. He is currently a junior majoring in Electrical Engineering
at Wichita State University. Mr. Gomez is a Peer Academic Leader for the
engineering Living learning Community in Shocker Hall at Wichita state
University. His research interest is focused on bio-inspired robotics enabled by
dielectric elastomer artificial muscle. Email:
alouisgomez@gmail.com
Timothy
Rollings is a senior at Wichita State University majoring in electrical
engineering, with minors in both mathematics and computer science. His research
interests are within the fields of control systems, computer vision, artificial
intelligence, signal processing, and robotics. While researching and developing
novel real-time tracking systems within the BIRCL, he is also a controls
engineer intern for a building automation company called BCS. In addition to
being a member of the BIRCL, he has been a Channel Scholar and undergraduate
researcher with Purdue University’s Center for Science of Information for the
past year. He has also been a McNair Scholar with WSU for the past two years.
When not researching or doing school work he enjoys coffee, reading fiction and
dystopian novels, listening to various music, going for runs and hikes, playing
the guitar, volunteering, and exploring. Email:
timee123234@gmail.com
Cooper
Colglazier was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas. Cooper is currently a senior
in Electrical Engineering with minors in Mathematics and Computer Science.
Cooper works in the Rhatigan Student Center and serves as an at-large senator in
the 59th session of the Student Government Association. In the summer of 2015 he
was awarded an Engineering Research Stipend under Dr. Preethika Kumar to explore
possibilities in quantum computing. Shortly after, he worked with Dr. Kumar and
Dr. Ali Eslami on a research project to explore the potential of STT-RAM to
become a universal memory. Cooper's current interests include robotics, machine
learning and artificial intelligence. After he received B.S. degree in
Electrical Engineering, Mr. Colglazier joined the Department of Computer Science
at Georgia Institute of Technology as a graduate student. Email:
cmcolglazier@wichita.edu
Mr. Relph
was born in Wichita,KS. He has spent over half his life there and the other half
in Seattle, WA. Mr. Relph is an Electrical Engineering undergraduate student at
Wichita State University. He is currently researching for ways to harvest plants
autonomously. In addition to his research in the Robot Farming area, Connor
workes at Westar Energy as a Distribution System Engineer in downtown Wichita,
KS. At work, he performs test/analysis of load flow and fault studies. Connor
Relph is apart of St. Paul's Catholic Student Center at Wichita State University
and is a leader in their Knights of Columbus chapter. During his free time, he
enjoys volunteering through his church and spending time with family. Email:
cprelph@wichita.edu
High School
Alumni
Lucy Zeng
Ms.
Zeng was born in Houston, Texas. Ms. Zeng is currently a high school student at
James E Taylor High School. She is currently researching applications for
bio-inspired robotics. Email:
lhzeng@comcast.net