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Graduate Student Spotlights

Laura is a Renaissance Woman who works on the laser cooling of solids. In this video, she talks about talks about her research, her outreach work as President of the Optical Society at the University of Michigan, and her hobbies, which include climbing waterfalls of ice in her spare time.

Research Area: Optics & Photonics
Hails from: Washington, D.C.
In this video, Nick talks about how his research applies to speech and image processing, economic and financial data, and medical datasets. He talks about why he chose U-M, his favorite aspects of the program and the town, including Michigan sports.

Research Area: Signal & Image Processing and Machine Learning

Navid Barani

Navid uses applied electromagnetics to unravel the mysteries of bacterial communication. His work could help advance medical treatments for many ailments, including Alzheimers’s.

Research Area: Applied Electromagnetics and RF Circuits
Hails from: Isfahan, Iran
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Fuxi Cai and Stacey (Yemin) Tang

Cai’s research focuses on using memristors for applications of neuromorphic computing. Tang works on shrinking sensors for wearable devices. In this video, they talk about their research, why they chose U-M, and their favorite community activities, such as ECE’s annual Lunar New Year Celebration.

Cai’s Research Area: Solid-State Devices and Nanotechnology
Cai Hails from: Changchun, China

Tang’s Research Area: MEMS and Microsystems
Tang Hails from: Shangai, China
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Iverson works on developing electrodynamic tether technology, which is an innovative propulsion system for small spacecraft that doesn’t require fuel. He talks about why he came to U-M, what he enjoys about the campus and communities, and student clubs he’s joined.

Research Area: Applied Electromagnetics & RF Circuits
Quinn works on improving the lifetime of flexible, organic photovoltaic cells. These cells wouldn’t require the heavy infrastructure needed for current solar panels and would be just as efficient and cost-efficient. Quinn talks about the benefits of U-M, particularly in regard to the quality of the labs and equipment needed to do his research.

Research Area: Optics & Photonics

Stephanie Crocker Ross

Stephanie works on integrating more renewable energy into the grid. Her dissertation was awarded the Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship for being unusually creative, ambitious and impactful.

Research Area: Power & Energy
Hails from: Poughkeepsie, NY
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Yudhajeet Dasgupta

Yudhajeet is the project manager of a cube satellite project in collaboration with NASA. In this video, he talks about his research, leaving his country for the first time, and how U-M has impacted his life.

Research Area: Applied Electromagnetics & RF Circuits
Hails from: Agartala, Tripura, India Video >

Liz Dreyer

Liz researches a new, never-before-studied class of optical phenomena. In this video, she talks about the benefits of pursuing an advanced degree, the ECE community, and her activities on campus.

Research Area: Optics & Photonics
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Muhammad is a recent graduate with an electrical engineering PhD. His research in RF circuits for the Internet of Things attracted enough attention from industry that he founded a company to market it – Movellus Circuits. Muhammad credits his early success to the research and entrepreneurial resources offered to him by Michigan.

Research Area: Applied Electromagnetics & RF Circuits
Brent worked on MABEL, the world’s fastest bipedal robot with knees, and now works on MARLO, the most dexterous. He talks about the exciting atmosphere in Prof. Jessy Grizzle’s lab and the benefits of building robots on two legs.

Research Area: Robotics & Autonomous Systems

Nooshin M. Estakhri

Nooshin studies studies experimental and theoretical quantum optics and its potential to impact communication and biomedical imaging.

Research Area: Optics & Photonics
Hails from: Tehran, Iran
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Laura Freyman

Laura studies hardware components of neural networks. In this video, she discusses how brain-like hardware works, and other projects to come out of her ultra-low-power circuits group, which includes the Michigan Micro Mote, the world’s smallest computer.

Research Area: Integrated Circuits & VLSI
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Huanting Huang

Huanting works to improve remote sensing of soil moisture and vegetation. She’s won numerous awards for her work, including first place for Best Student Paper at the IEEE International Conference on Computational Electromagnetics 2019.

Research Area: Applied Electromagnetics and RF Circuits
Hails from: Hong Kong
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Mai is working to improve the speed and accuracy of MRI to make it more affordable for patients and doctors, and to make it a better diagnostic tool. In particular, she hopes to benefit liver cancer radiation therapy assessment.

Research Area: Signal & Image Processing and Machine Learning

Byungjun Lee

Byungjun works on developing thin-film solar cells to advance sustainable energy. In this video, he talks about his research, his favorite places around Ann Arbor, and how he found a community at U-M.

Research Area: Optics and Photonics
Hails from: Seoul, South Korea Video >

Tal Nagourney

Tal enjoys high level research and currently works on creating resonators for a MEMS gyroscope system using an innovative blowtorch moulding process. These will be used as part of a navigation system that works without GPS. After he graduates, Tal plans to continue researching new MEMS technology.

Research Area: MEMS & Microsystems
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Md Salman Nazir

Md Salman develops optimization and control algorithms to efficiently manage electric loads, storage devices, and solar-photovoltaic inverters in the grid.

Research Area: Power & Energy
Hails from: Bangladesh
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Brandon recreates space phenomena in a lab using lasers. His research on magnetic fields in high-energy plasmas could help advance the development of clean energy and our understanding of energetic astrophysical phenomena. In this video, he talks about his research, his love of mountain biking, and how his family call him “The Laser Guy.”

Research Area: Optics & Photonics
Hails from: Alberta, Canada
Kwesi works to ensure that robots and autonomous systems do what they’re told. In this video, he talks about his research, why he came to U-M for his undergrad and why he returned to U-M for his PhD, as well as how his parents inspired him to be an engineer.

Research Area: Control Systems
Hails from: Somerset, NJ

Xin Zan

Xin Zan is helping to free the world from cords through Wireless Power Transfer. His work could advance implantable medical devices, autonomous electric vehicles, and consumer electronics.

Research Area: Power & Energy
Hails from: Qinghai – Tibet Plateau
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Jie-Fang Zhang

Jie-Fang crafts better digital systems that could help support computer vision and machine learning.

Research Area: Integrated Circuits and VLSI
Hails from: Taipei, Taiwan
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Milad Zolfagharloo Koohi

Milad is looking to advance radio frequency (RF) technologies and usher in a new era of communication that includes 5G and beyond.

Research Area: Applied Electromagnetics and RF Circuits
Hails from: Tehran, Iran
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