Department Updates

Bioengineering (BE)

Dr. Randal Westrick received a $401,000 grant from the American Heart Association for his study titled Bridging Basic and Clinical Science in Heart and Brain Inflammation.

Dr. Alycen Wiacek was awarded a $341,598 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering for her research project, Quantitative Photoacoustic Imaging Biomarkers for Characterization of Thrombosis.

Arina Rodionova, an undergraduate bioengineering major, won the Best Poster Presentation Award at the 19th Annual Midwest Platelet Conference in Lexington, Kentucky. Her work, Identification of a Noncoding Genetic Variant that Regulates Tissue-Specific F3 Expression and Reverses Lethal Thrombosis in Mice, was conducted in Dr. Westrick's lab.

Daniela Meson De La Fuente, an undergraduate bioengineering student, received the prestigious #MaGNET award sponsored by the National Science Foundation at the 2024 International Maize Genetics Conference in Raleigh, NC.

Luc Taburet, an undergraduate bioengineering student, and his adviser, Dr. Alycen Wiacek, were honored with the Provost Undergraduate Student Research Award for Winter 2024. Taburet’s project is titled Repeatable Volumetric Ultrasound Imaging of the Patellar Tendon for Children with Cerebral Palsy.

Computer Science and Engineering (CSE)

Dr. Guangzhi Qu was appointed interim chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Dr. Katherine Bowers was named academic programs coordinator for the department.

New faculty additions include Assistant Professors Dr. Mst Shapna Akter, Dr. Amine Barrak, Dr. Yao Qiang, Dr. Sai Deepthi Yeddula, and Dr. Kaiqi Zhao.

Dr. Nasser Nasrabadi joined the department as Professor.

Launch of a B.S. in Data Science.

Dr. Huirong Fu and Dr. Darrin Hanna secured $2.5 million from the National Security Agency (NSA) for the DRIFT (Driving Automotive Industry WorkForce Transformation) project, with a potential $1 million extension in the third year.

Dr. Huirong Fu received a $450,292 NSF grant for her project REU Site: Undergraduate Computer Research in Cybersecurity and AI (UnCoRe-CyberAI) and was honored with the Research-Led Teaching Award by the OU Office of Research.

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

Dr. Sedigh Toulabi joined the ECE faculty as Assistant Professor

B.S. in Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering was launched in Fall 2024. 

ECE and ME faculty members, Dr. Ankun Yang (PI-pricipal investigator) and co-PIs Dr. Jun Chen, Dr. Xia Wang, Dr. Yongsoon Yoon, Dr. Daniel Aloi, Dr. Shadi Alawneh, Dr. Dan DelVescovo and Dr. Mohammad Sedigh Toulabi  secured a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the development of the Next-Gen Electrification Testing and Standards Facility: from Materials to Vehicles.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, which ran successfully for 9 years, has been renewed for another 3 years.

Dr. Jun Chen received $126,000 from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation for his study Sensor Reduction for Large Battery Packs.

Dr. Jun Chen secured $320,000 from NSF for the project Sensor-lean Estimation and Monitoring for Second Life EV Batteries, focused on innovative solutions for sustainable energy systems.

Dr. Alycen Wiacek has received the Powe Award from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities. This is the first time in the school's history that a faculty member has been honored with this award.  The Powe Award is highly competitive, typically awarded to faculty from R1 institutions. Her project is titled Augmented Reality for Multimodal Acoustic-based Breast Biopsy. 

Dr. Alycen Wiacek has been awarded an Engineering Research Initiation grant for $200,000 from the National Science Foundation for her project Development of a Wireless 3D Breast Ultrasound Imaging System for Low-Resource Settings. 

Dr. Shadi Alawneh received the 2024 OU Faculty Research Fellowship award for his project Efficient Algorithm for Conducting Power Flow Studies at Large Scales.

Dr. Mohamed Zohdy was recognized by ScholarGPS for his outstanding performance and research in Control Theory. His contributions have placed him in the top 0.5% of all scholars worldwide. 

Dr. Osamah Rawashdeh was awarded the FANUC America Innovative Educator Award by Auburn Hills Chamber of Commerce. This recognition celebrates Dr. Rawashdeh's dedication to developing industry-approved, certificate-based mechatronics programs. 

Dr. Jun Chen was named as a member of the Oakland County, Michigan Government Oakland Together 40 Class of 2024

Dr. Jun Chen was named the recipient of the 2024 XIANGQUN ZENG MOST ACTIVE GRANT SEEKER award from OU Office of Research. 

Dr. Jun Chen was named the recipient of the 2024 Most Research Active Award  from OU Office of Research

Rehnuma Hasnat, M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and her adviser Dr. Alycen Wiacek were awarded the Provost Graduate Student Research award for Winter 2024. Hasnat's research is titled Deep Learning of Quantitative Ultrasound Features for Breast Cancer Diagnosis. 

Alex Tyshka, M.S. ECE student, won the Oakland University Graduate School's Three Minute Thesis Competition People's Choice Award for his presentation Designing Social Robots That Anyone Can Teach.

Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE)

Dr. Richard Olawoyin, along with Dr. Martha Escobar (CAS) and Dr. Brandy Randal, dean of OU Graduate School, received $1.088 million as part of an initiative that involves five academic institutions in the state of Alabama. 

Dr. Richard Olawoyin has been awarded $150,978 for the project titled ADVANCE - BELONG: (Building Equity, Leadership, and Opportunities for a New Generation) Summit.  

Dr. Ali Malik received the 2024 OU Faculty Research Fellowship award for his project that aims to develop a digital twin of a reconfigurable manufacturing system using the Asset Administration Shell. 

Mechanical Engineering (ME)

New Programs for 2024

• A new minor in Mechanical Engineering was launched in Fall 2024.
• A combined BS/MS program in mechanical engineering was launched in Fall 2024. 
• Minor in Sustainability Engineering was launched in Fall 2024
• B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering, specialization Electrified Propulsion
• M.S. in Energy Engineering program has been approved by the SECS Assembly. The proposed program is interdisciplinary in nature, including course options from ME, ECE and other departments.  Specializations: Renewable Energy, (2) Battery Technology, (3) Vehicle Electrification, (4) Energy Efficiency, and (S) Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering. 

Led by an interdepartmental team of ECE and ME faculty members, Dr. Ankun Yang (PI-pricipal investigator) and co-PIs Dr. Jun Chen, Dr. Xia Wang, Dr. Yongsoon Yoon, Dr. Daniel Aloi, Dr. Shadi Alawneh, Dr. Dan DelVescovo and Dr. Mohammad Sedigh Toulabi, Oakland University has secured a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the development of the Next-Gen Electrification Testing and Standards Facility: from Materials to Vehicles.

Dr. Ryan Monroe received an Engineering Research Initiation grant for $200,000. Dr. Monroe's project is titled NSF ERI: System Tautochronic Pendulum Vibration Absorbers for Next-Generation Propulsion Systems and Other Machinery. 

Dr. Sarah Beetham received an Engineering Research Initiation grant for $200,000. Dr. Bettham's project is titled ERI: Simulation and modeling of polydisperse gas-solid flows. 

Dr. Ankun Yang was awarded a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for his research project, LEAPS-MPS: Probing Solid Electrolyte Interphase of Sodium Metal Anodes Using Plasmonic Effects.