Doctoral Student Profiles

My research of interest is mostly focused on fundamental study of firebrand/ember spotting process(theoretical and numerical) as well as measurement of burning characteristics of wildland/structure fuels in WUI fires advised by Prof. J Urban.

Jon Zimak Ph.D student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) studying inert gas suppression systems and the standards that approve these systems for use. His research is under the direction of Professors Albert Simeoni and Milosh Puchovsky and sponsored by the company Kidde. Jon’s Master’s thesis investigated the extinguishing dynamics of a wood crib subjected to an inert gas discharge at two scales. This work resulted in a Fire Safety Journal publication, a best student presenter award at the International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, and several presentations for the NFPA and ...

Anne M. Johnson has worked for the Department of the Navy for 20 years. She has served as systems software management lead, and principle investigator for concept generation and development, assessments, futuring, and analytics across many areas of undersea warfare and maritime security. Anne is a PhD student in Simulation Science at WPI. Her research is at the intersection of modeling and simulation of dynamic systems, predictive analytics, futuring & foresight, and gaming to inform decision making in the face of uncertainty. She is interested in the advancement of multi-method ...

Christine Tang was a PhD candidate in Manufacturing Engineering with a focus in Health Systems Engineering. She received her B.S. in Industrial Engineering in 2013 and her M.S. in Manufacturing Engineering in 2015 from WPI. Christine was a GAANN Fellow from 2013-2016 and was a Health Systems Engineering Fellow at the White River Junction VA Medical Center in Vermont. Now, Christine is a PhD student in Interdisciplinary Studies in System Dynamics with a focus in mental, emotional and behavioral health. Please see her personal site for more information.

Hannah Smith is a second year Learning Sciences & Technologies graduate student at WPI. She was a commonwealth honors student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth where she received her B.A. in Mathematics and her B.A. in Psychology and was a four year member and two year captain of the softball team as well as NCAA woman of the year nominee. She was also an undergraduate math tutor and teaching assistant. She came to WPI in 2018 to combine her interests in psychology, mathematics and education. Her research interests include using games as learning tools, teacher professional ...

Yuan Lu is a PhD candidate from Manufacturing Engineering Department at WPI. His advisor is Prof. Richard Sisson. The research is focused on gas quenching steel hardenability. He received his undergraduate degree in 2011 from Mechanical Engineering Department at Tsinghua University, China and master degree in 2015 from Materials Science and Engineering Department at WPI. He is now a PhD candidate in MFE Department at WPI.

Caitlin is a PhD student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. She completed her BS in Mechanical Engineering at WPI in 2015, and her MS in Material Science and Engineering also at WPI in 2015. Her work has focused on treatment and evaluation of aluminum feedstock powder for additive manufacturing applications. She is a member of Sigma Xi, Alpha Sigma Mu, Tau Beta Pi, Material Advantage, and Society of Women Engineers.

Aaron is a PhD graduate working at the convergence of materials science, data science, and mechanical engineering to develop a statistical learning tool for predicting bulk properties of materials processed via Laser-Assisted Cold Spray(LACS). LACS is an additive process that deposits metal powders at supersonic speeds onto a laser heated surface. Beyond research, Aaron has served on the Board of ASM International and HTS, the Venture Forum, and was named SME's 30 Under 30, 2016.    He is now a materials scientist & engineer and co-founder of the lithium-ion battery start-up Kinetic ...

The Design of New Cathode Material for High Energy Lithium Ion Battery Nowadays, electrical vehicle (EV) has been attracted much more attention than before since it’s convenient for drivers and environmental friendly for society. However the energy of all kinds of lithium ion battery now in commercial use are not satisfied the requests of being power source for EV. So choosing and optimizing several kinds of capacity cathodes which have high capacity and good electrical properties such as good cycling performance and rate capability is the primary work for EV battery research area. This ...

Ms. Mengyuan was born in Changde, Hunan, China. She joined Prof. Yan Wang's group in January, 2016 and worked on battery recycling project since then.