Six earn Ohio State Presidential Fellowships
Engineering grad students Mohammad Shahriar Hooshmand, Kexing Lai, Anand Nagarajan, Seckin Sahin, Arunima Srivastava and Lin Zhang were recently named Autumn 2018 Presidential Fellows.
The Presidential Fellowship is the most prestigious award given by The Ohio State University Graduate School to recognize the outstanding scholarly accomplishments and potential of graduate students entering the final phase of their dissertation research or terminal degree project.
Mohammad Shahriar Hooshmand is a materials science and engineering PhD student, advised by Assistant Professor Maryam Ghazisaeidi. He is minoring in computer science and engineering, and he received his master’s in Applied Mechanics and Materials Science from Ohio State in 2016. His current research focus is atomic-scale modeling of twinning—a mode of deformation—in titanium and its alloys. His work has answered the long standing question of why oxygen suppresses twinning in titanium, resulting in publications in highly ranked journals, with him as the lead author.
An Electrical and Computer Engineering PhD student, Kexing Lai is advised by Associate Professor Mahesh Illindala. His work involves upgrading the nation’s electrical power grid infrastructure to make it more reliable and resilient against faults and malicious attacks. Such extreme events can otherwise cause massive economic loss and enormous damage to the nation’s energy security. His efforts have resulted in six journal papers published or in print, two submitted journal papers, six conference papers, and one patent application pending.
Anand Nagarajan is a mechanical engineering PhD student, advised by Assistant Professor Soheil Soghrati. His research is in the field of computational mechanics, a key enabler of fundamental understanding and analyzing behavior of novel materials, including asteroidal rocks, DNA origami nanoplates, and fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Soghrati said that discoveries made by Nagarajan have allowed “the modeling and design of materials with intricate microstructures that would not be possible using existing techniques.”
Seckin Sahin is pursuing her PhD in electrical and computer engineering, and currently an intern at Google’s Pixel Mobile Hardware Research and Development Unit. Associate Professor Kubilay Sertel advises her on research of 5G communication systems. Antenna-integrated transceivers are viable solutions as the backbone of future 5G wireless networks. Seckin has been developing novel, low-profile antenna arrays that can be integrated directly onto electronics chips for the first time, achieving an unprecedented coverage that spans most of the bands allocated for mobile communications.
A computer science and engineering PhD candidate, Arunima Srivastava is advised by Professor Raghu Machiraju. Her research occurs at the intersection of engineering and medicine. She is developing artificial intelligence-based computational models for early cancer detection, diagnosis and personalized treatment plans. Using three distinct types of data – gene expression, protein levels and diseased tissue images – her initial focus is the initiation of prostate cancer. Srivastava has published 15 papers for top-tier conferences or journals in computational biology and related fields.
Industrial and Systems Engineering PhD student Lin Zhang is advised by Professor Allen Yi. He is investigating the mechanism of precision chalcogenide glass molding and its applications on micro thermal imaging. Chalcogenide glasses can be readily molded into precision optics, therefore providing the photonics industry with material candidates for low cost and high-performance devices. The author of nine highly regarded peer reviewed journal articles and four conference presentations, Lin has become one of the leading authorities on chalcogenide glass optics.
Awarded competitively, the Presidential Fellowship gives fellows one year of full-time financial support so they can complete their dissertations or terminal degree projects unimpeded by other duties. Led by a faculty committee, university-wide competitions are held autumn and spring semesters.
