PhD Students
Denizcan Koc
Mr. Koc is
a PhD student in the Mechanical & Aerospace 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
Umar Masood
Mr. Masood
is a PhD student in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department at
the University of Houston. 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 proceedings. He has 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 led 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 with managing the equipment in the BRCL.
Email: mmasood5@CougarNet.UH.EDU
Qiang Zhu
Mr.
Zhu is a PhD student in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department
at the University of Houston. He was born in China. He received his bachelor’s
degree in Packaging Engineering at Jilin University in 2018. Then he got the master’s degree in mechanical engineering at the George Washington University in 2020. After graduating from
GWU, Qiang worked as a mechanical engineer in Huawei Technology, designing
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
Yuhang Ying
Mr.
Ying is a PhD student working at BRCL in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Department at the University of Houston. Yuhang Ying was born in Jiamusi/China
in 2002. He received his BS degree in vehicle engineering at Hefei University
of Technology in 2024. His current research is focused on the autopilot of UGV,
and intelligent control based on machine learning of 4-DOF robotic arm and
underwater robot. During his free time, he likes to walk/ride around
countryside and get close to nature.Email:
yying2@cougarnet.uh.edu
Salvador Gonzalez
Mr.
Gonzalez is a PhD student in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Department at the University of Houston. His family comes from Guadalajara,
Mexico. Salvador earned his degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Cullen
College of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering in 2024. His current research
is in modeling, feedback, and control of soft robotic actuators; specifically
in the application of sensor-integrated manipulators. Salvador's background is in
Competitive Robotics, with experience primarily in mechanical design and
fabrication. Mr. Gonzalez intends to specialize in advanced control
applications for autonomous robots and vehicles. Salvador is passionate
about teaching and envisions creating a controls engineering program dedicated
to the practical and experimental implementation of various control strategies.
In his free time, he volunteers as an alum advisor for Pearadox
FRC robotics, and he enjoys cooking and learning new languages.
Atanu Dahari
Mr.
Dahari is a PhD student in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Department at the University of Houston, where his research focuses on the
intersection of artificial intelligence and robotic systems in sports. He holds
a master’s degree in computer science from Rice University and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication
Technology from the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), India. Prior to pursuing
his doctoral studies, Atanu spent over two years in the tech industry as an
Applied AI Engineer, specializing in designing, building, and evaluating
agent-based AI systems. A passionate badminton player who competed in
tournaments for the Rice University club team, he aims to leverage his
background in AI to drive impactful research and technological contributions to
the sport. Email: adahari@CougarNet.UH.EDU.
Miao Yu
Ms. Yu is a PhD student in the
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Houston.
She was born in Jixi, Heilongjiang, China, in 2004. She received her bachelor’s
degree in electronic information engineering from Northeast Electric Power
University in 2026. Her current research focuses on robot motion control,
navigation, and underwater robotics. In her free time, she enjoys listening to
music, reading, exercising, and hiking. Email: myu15@CougarNet.UH.EDU .
Samuel
Aina
Mr. Aina is a PhD student in the
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Houston,
where his research focuses on developing robotic systems for applications in
unstructured manufacturing environments. Originally from Lagos, Nigeria, he
holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering
from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (May 2023). Before pursuing his
doctoral studies, Samuel spent 3 years as a Systems Engineer in the
manufacturing space with Eaton, Cummins, and DelConte Inc. In these roles, he
gained extensive experience designing and managing complex manufacturing lines
across multiple countries and developed a strong background in operations and
logistics. Samuel is deeply interested in history, philosophy, and politics. He
loves learning about new cultures and places, is an expert Trivia player, and
plays Paradox grand strategy games in his free time.
Email: soaina@CougarNet.UH.EDU .
PhD Alumni
Theophilus Kaaya
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.
Shengbin Wang
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
Wenyu Zuo
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.
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
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
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
· Master Alumini
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.
Yejin Wi
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
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 currently 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
Piqi Hou
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
Sandeep Reddy Chitti
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.
Undergraduate 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
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
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.
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
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
Javier Carretero Murillo
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
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
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
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
Connor Relph
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