About Me

I have a background in engineering and a wide range of experiences, from working as a graduate student in the Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC) at KAUST in Saudi Arabia to writing SBIR proposals as part of the three-person startup Smart Material Solutions (SMS) in Raleigh and now managing an R&D department at Sumitomo Electric Lightwave (SEL). Through these experiences, I have learned that I am happiest when working to solve challenging problems or any task that has a tangible impact. Particularly if that impact is broadly positive for society.

Key Skills

I am a ceative engineer with an effective balance of technical competencies and interpersonal skills. I have a background in both the practical aspects of experimental research, design & development, and computational research & practical programming. Self-motivated and detailed oriented, excellent communication and organizational skills, experienced giving both technical and informative presentations to large groups, executives, and key stakeholders.

  • C++, Python, Go
  • Project management
  • Proposal composition
  • Excellent interpersonal skills
  • Mechanical design, CAD, GD&T
  • R&D team management

Select Projects

The following projects were completed during my graduate studies and illustrate a portion of my technical capabilities and experience.

Active-valve Resonant Pulse Combustor

Developed novel resonant pulse combustor technology with an actively driven mechanical valve enabling robust operation for test durations (hours/days) orders of magnitude above what was possible with conventional technology (minutes). The development process included CAD modeling (Solidworks), generating 2D drawings for fabrication (GD&T), design of experiments for evaluation, and experimental verification (selecting/procuring instrumentation, analog circuit design, LabView development).

pcFoam OpenFOAM Solver

Built a fully explicit, compressible solver with gas-phase chemical reaction and dynamic mesh capability (pcFoam) using the OpenFOAM CFD library. Utilized this solver to simulate the operation of a novel, active-valve resonant pulse combustor on a Red Hat cluster and post-processed the results using ParaView software.

High Pressure Shroud

Designed and oversaw the fabrication of a high-pressure apparatus to study pressure gain combustion systems in gas turbine relevant conditions, including necessary control interfaces and instrumentation for characterizing performance and emissions. Designed and implemented a robust safety system for ensuring the safe operation of the high-pressure apparatus.

Laser-induced Incandescence (LII) Post-processing Tool

Built KLIIP (KAUST Laser-induced Incandescence Post-processing), a C++ tool to allow quantitative soot primary particle size information to be obtained using the Laser-induced Incandescence measurement technique. This post-processing tool required modeling the complex physics that occurs when soot particles are rapidly heated through laser irradiation and then cooled. From this cooling rate, the particle size information is obtained; thus, accurate modeling of the physics is critical to the overall accuracy of the result. The project was carried out as coordination between three research activities, two providing experimental data and the third using experimental data and results to enhance the model.

Education

  • Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering
    King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
    2014 - Present
    Expected Graduation: December, 2021
  • M.S. Mechanical Engineering
    King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
    2012 - 2014
  • B.S. Aerospace Engineering
    North Carolina State University (NCSU)
    2008 - 2012