Congratulations Class of 2020!

Computer Science

Nabeel Akhtar
Ph.D., Computer Science

Thesis: “Orchestration and Management of Application Functions Over Virtualized Cloud Infrastructures”
Advisor: Professor Abraham Matta

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Giuseppe Bombara
Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering

Thesis: “Learning Temporal Logic Formulae From Data”
Advisor: Professor Calin Belta

Jiawei (Gary) Chen
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering

Thesis: “Privacy-preserving Analysis of Human Activity”
Advisors: Professors Janusz Konrad and Prakash Ishwar

Emily Lam
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering

Thesis: “Using Angle Diverse and Modulated Optical Sources for 3D Indoor Positioning”
Advisor: 
Professor Thomas D. Little

Joshua Rapp
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering

Thesis: “Probabilistic Modeling for Single-Photon Lidar”
*Outstanding Dissertation Award Winner*
Advisor: 
Professor Vivek Goyal

Onur Sahin
Ph.D., Computer Engineering

Thesis: “Efficient Runtime Management for Enabling Sustainable Performance in Real-World Mobile Application”
Advisors: Associate Professor Ayse K. Coskun and Assistant Professor Manuel Egele

Jinyuan Zhao
Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering

Thesis: “Light Transport Analysis for Indoor Activity Localization and Recognition”
Advisors: Professors Janusz Konrad and Prakash Ishwar

Earth & Environment

Sarabeth Buckley
Ph.D., Earth and Environment

Thesis: “Enhancing Plant Growth and Carbon Harvesting for Sustainable Agriculture”
Advisor: Professor Nathan Phillips

Andrew Trlica
Ph.D., Earth and Environment

Thesis: “Ecosystem Functional Changes Across the Anthropocene Landscape: Spatial Patterning in Albedo and Biogenic Carbon Exchange in Urban Areas”
Advisor: Associate 
Professor Lucy Hutyra

Mathematics/Statistics

Brian J. Choi
Ph.D., Mathematics

Thesis: “Weighted Fourier Analysis and Dispersive Equations”
Advisor: 
Professor Mark Kon

Mechanical Engineering

Xiao Li
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering

Thesis: “A Formal Methods Approach to Interpretability, Safety, and Composability for Reinforcement Learning”
Advisor: Professor Calin Belta

Systems Engineering

Ruidi Chen
Ph.D., Systems Engineering
Thesis: “Distributionally Robust Learning under the Wasserstein Metric”
*Outstanding Dissertation Award Winner*
Advisor: 
Professor 
Ioannis Paschalidis

Arian Houshmand
Ph.D., Systems Engineering

Thesis: “Eco-routing and Scheduling of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles”
Advisor: Distinguished 
Professor Christos Cassandras

Francisco Penedo Alvarez
Ph.D., 
Systems Engineering
Thesis: “Formal Methods for Partial Differential Equations”
Advisor: 
Professor Calin Belta

Rebecca Swaszek
Ph.D., Systems Engineering

Thesis: “Data-Driven Fleet Load Balancing Strategies for Shared Mobility-On-Demand Systems”
Advisor: 
Distinguished Professor Christos Cassandras

Taiyao Wang
Ph.D., Systems Engineering

Thesis: “Data Analytics And Optimization Methods in Biomedical Systems: From Microbes to Humans”
Advisor: 
Professor 
Ioannis Paschalidis

Tingting Xu
Ph.D., Systems Engineering

Thesis: “Machine Learning for Effective Predictions and Prescriptions in Health Care”
Advisor: 
Professor 
Ioannis Paschalidis

Selin Yanikara
Ph.D., Systems Engineering

Thesis: “Decentralized Scheduling of EV Energy and Regulation Reserve Services in Distribution Network Markets”
Advisor: 
Professor Michael Caramanis

Yue Zhang
Ph.D., Systems Engineering
Thesis: “Methods in Intelligent Transportation Systems Exploiting Vehicle Connectivity, Autonomy and Roadway Data”
Advisor: 
Distinguished Professor Christos Cassandras

Henghui Zhu
Ph.D., Systems Engineering

Thesis: “Making Decisions based on Context: Models and Applications in Cognitive Sciences and Natural Language Processing”
Advisor: Professor Ioannis Paschalidis