Ramesh Bahadur Bist is an assistant professor and principal investigator of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (AIR) lab in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at NC State University. He is also affiliated with the North Carolina Food and Animal Initiative.

Bist was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arkansas. He specializes in applying artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and data-driven technologies to enhance poultry production, animal health and food system sustainability. He has used various AI technologies to identify different behaviors, health conditions, food safety issues, and for quality assessment. In robotics, he utilizes a SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) model to enable ground vehicles to navigate autonomously within poultry processing plants.

He has a strong record of scientific productivity, including more than 39 research articles, 10 conference proceedings and seven preprints. Bist has presented his findings over 50 times at national and international conferences.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Poultry Science, University of Georgia, 2024
• M.S. in Animal Science, Arkansas State University, 2018

Research Interests:

• Artificial intelligence, robotics, computer vision and sensor integration for smart poultry farming, food safety, animal welfare and precision livestocks
• Development of autonomous systems and predictive models for enhancing productivity, sustainability and decision-making in food and livestock systems

Awards and Honors:

• Outstanding Graduate Student Research Presentation at International Pharmaceutical Students Federation (2023)

Websites:

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6iJnpBMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramesh-b-bist-753b04110/

Alexandra Easley is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State University. Prior to NC State, she was a Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University working with Brett Fors on carbon capture and utilization in polymer chemistry. She received her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Texas A&M University, where her research focused on the fundamental properties and application of non-conjugated polymeric materials for energy storage. She received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program and was a Texas A&M Diversity Fellow.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2022
• B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2017

Research Interests:

• In-situ electrochemical characterization of polymers for metal-free energy storage
• Designing and synthesizing polymers with functional group triggers, such as polymers that undergo physical/chemical changes in response to external stimuli

Awards and Honors:

• Achievement Award for Excellence in Mentoring, Cornell University (2024)
• American Chemical Society Global Outstanding Student and Mentor Awards in Polymer Science and Engineering (2023)
• Awardee of Klarman Postdoctoral Fellowship (2022-2025)

Websites:

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-PT5CIoAAAAJ&hl=en

Education:

• Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, NC State University, 2023
• M.S. in Chemical Engineering, NC State University, 2019
• B.S. Chemical Engineering and B.S. in Mathematics, Clarkson University, 2016

Leah Granger earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. She earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from NC State University, where she worked on multiscale models to research damage propagation in nanolayered materials. Now focused on teaching, her career interests center on expanding accessibility to and within engineering education.

Teaching Interests:

• Expanding accessibility to and within engineering education

Awards and Honors:

• Felder Teaching Excellence Award (2025)
• Felder Teaching Excellence Award (2023)
• Praxair Teaching Fellow (2020)

Websites:

• https://cbe.ncsu.edu/people/lcgrange

Blake Rasor received a B.S. in biology & microbiology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Undergraduate research and an internship at the Joint BioEnergy Institute provided a strong basis for further work in synthetic biology, leading to a Ph.D. in chemical & biological engineering from Northwestern University. Rasor’s doctoral research utilized cell-free systems to study and engineer metabolism for biomanufacturing. Subsequently, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology to study photosynthesis using components from cyanobacteria. Rasor is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He will work with the Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing cluster, part of the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program, to facilitate interdisciplinary applications of biological systems.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, 2023
• B.S. in Biology and Microbiology, Miami University, 2017

Research Interests:

• Sustainable biomanufacturing of chemicals, enzymes and therapeutics by combining cell-free synthetic biology and metabolic engineering approaches

Awards and Honors:

• European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Schmidt Science Fellows Finalist
• Distinguished Graduate Researcher Award in Chemical & Biological Engineering
• Brady Fellowship in Ethics and Civic Life
• National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
• Orton K. Stark Award
• Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship
• Beckman Scholarship

Websites:

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=rjfm9N0AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-rasor-709204121

Luis Zambrano-Cruzatty is an assistant professor of geotechnical engineering in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at NC State University. He earned his B.S. in civil engineering at the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, in Guayaquil, Ecuador. After five years of experience in the industry, he moved to the United States and completed his M.S. and Ph.D. at Virginia Tech. Zambrano-Cruzatty was previously an assistant professor at the University of Maine.

Zambrano-Cruzatty’s research focuses on the innovative application of the material point method (MPM) to simulate soil-water-structure interactions in large deformation processes, aiming to enhance the durability and resiliency of civil infrastructure in a changing climate. In particular, he improves contact algorithms and investigates how granular materials transition from solid- to liquid-like behavior under large deformations and strain rates. Zambrano-Cruzatty is also recognized for his work in eolian erosion. He recently started investigating sustainable and bioinspired improvement stabilization techniques such as soil carbonation and microbially induced desaturation (MID). He has also explored the use of soil in additive manufacturing and is interested in using in-situ soils as a zero-kilometer, environmentally friendly construction material.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, Virginia Tech, 2021
• M.S. in Civil Engineering, Virginia Tech, 2017
• B.S. in Civil Engineering, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, 2012

Research Interests:

• Material Point Method
• Complex soil-structure interaction problems
• Soil plasticity and rheology

Awards and Honors:

• National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award
• NSF EPSCoR Research Fellows Award
• NYU Faculty First Look Fellow
• American Society of Civil Engineers Trent R. Dames and William W. Moore Fellowship
• Walter Valdano Rafo Fellowship
• Best Undergraduate Student Award (CICG)

Websites:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisezc

Qiao (Georgie) Jin was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. While there, she was part of the GroupLens Research Center. Her research focuses on using augmented reality/virtual reality/mixed reality to support remote learning, collaboration and social connection. Her work has been published and recognized at top-tier venues in human-computer interaction (HCI) and social computing, including the Associate for Computing Machinery Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, the Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC) and others.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Minnesota, 2024
• M.Sc. in Computer Science, University of Chinese Academy of Science, 2019
• B.Sc. in Software Engineering, Shandong University, 2016

Research Interests:

• Human-computer interaction/child-computer interaction
• Computer-supported cooperative work/computer-supported collaborative learning
• XR in learning and social connection
• Embodied interaction
• XR ethics
• Educational technology
• Video-based learning
• Volumetric videos

Awards and Honors:

• CSCW Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Recognition (2024)
• IDC Best Paper Honorable Mention (2024)
• CHI Best Paper Honorable Mention (2023)

Websites:

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9HeqQGsAAAAJ&hl=en

Max Cohen is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NC State University. He previously served as a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology from 2023 through 2025. He earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Boston University in 2023. He was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2019, an Outstanding Dissertation Award from Boston University in 2023, and a Best Paper Award at the 2025 Conference on Learning for Dynamics and Control.

His research is broadly focused on control theory with applications in robotics and autonomous systems. In particular, he is interested in uniting tools from control theory and machine learning to design algorithms that enable autonomous systems to safely operate in real-world environments.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, 2023
• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, 2022
• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Florida, 2018

Research Interests:

• Control Systems
• Robotics
• Autonomy
• Machine Learning

Awards and Honors:

• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow (2019)
• Outstanding Dissertation in Mechanical Engineering, Boston University (2023)
• Best Paper Award, Conference on Learning for Dynamics and Control (2025)

Websites:

• https://maxhcohen.github.io

Hui Li is an assistant professor and extension specialist at the Department of Forest Biomaterials. He served as site co-director of the Center for Biocomposites and Biopolymers (CB2), a National Science Foundation Industry-University Cooperative Research Center, when he was a research faculty and extension specialist at Washington State University. His research focuses on practicing circular economy principles by using his expertise in materials and polymers, including lignin chemistry and polymerization, bio-based polymers and nanomaterials. His research also extensively involves natural fiber composites, mass timber processing and manufacturing and adhesive bonding characterization. Furthermore, he has been involved in composite recycling research for years in terms of aerospace carbon fiber recycling, end-of-life wind turbine blade recycling, waste plastic recycling and the development of value-added new products thereof. His extension and industrial outreach activity involves wood-based composites, wood-plastic composites, composite and plastic recycling, mass timber processing and manufacturing and bio-based polymer/fuel. He holds a Ph.D. in natural resources, specializing in lignin chemistry and polymerization from the University of Idaho, and a B.E. and M.E. in wood science and technology from Beijing Forestry University.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Natural Resources, University of Idaho, 2014

Research Interests:

• Mass timber processing and manufacturing
• Biopolymer and composites
• Materials recycling

Websites:

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pH7SOsQAAAAJ&hl=en
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/hui-li-3179a34a

Gal Mendelson started as an assistant professor in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial at North Carolina State University in 2025. Prior to this, he served as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, from 2023-25. His research lies at the intersection of applied probability, data science and operations research, with a focus on efficient resource utilization and systems management.

He earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Technion in 2020 and subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2022. His industry experience includes roles at IBM Research from 2017 to 2018 and NVIDIA from 2020 to 2021 where he addressed emerging scalability challenges in data centers.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, 2020
• M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, 2014
• B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, 2009

Research Interests:

• Operations research
• Stochastic modeling and analysis
• Efficient and sustainable energy usage
• Data center microgrids running AI workloads

Awards and Honors:

• INFORMS Applied Probability Society Best Student Paper Award (2019)
• George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award (honorable mention) (2019)
• Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholarship (2021-22)

Websites:

• https://scholar.google.co.il/citations?user=SJQba0QAAAAJ&hl=iw&oi=sra
• https://sites.google.com/view/galmendelsonshomepage/home

Jacob (Jake) Peloquin is an assistant professor in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at NC State University, where his research focuses on accelerating the design and manufacturing of advanced materials through AI-driven optimization and multiscale analysis. His work integrates mechanical characterization, computational modeling and data analytics to address structural variability in hierarchical and additively manufactured materials, from architected lattices to multifunctional composites.

By bridging materials science, advanced manufacturing and data-driven design, Peloquin aims to develop predictive frameworks that improve performance, reliability and manufacturability across domains like aerospace, energy and biomedical systems. He is especially interested in creating adaptable AI models that can learn from limited data and be transferred across processes, materials or geometries to reduce time-to-deployment.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, 2025
• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, 2025
• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021

Research Interests:

• Advanced manufacturing
• Artificial intelligence
• Materials science
• Structural mechanics
• Multiscale mechanics

Awards and Honors:

• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
• NSF aiM-NRT Fellow
• Departmental Service Award Duke University 2025
• Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Startup Showcase Finalist
• Invented @ Duke 2024 Winner

Websites:

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wFgi_KEAAAAJ&hl=en
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-peloquin

Edward (Ted) Chapman is a teaching professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He is also a commander in the Naval Reserves. He is a surface warfare officer and former nuclear propulsion officer and was on active duty from 2008 to 2014 when he attended graduate school at NC State University. In 2018, he earned his Ph.D. from NC State and was recalled to active duty as a teaching professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he remained until 2024. In 2024, he returned to the reserves, where he currently serves as N9 for the Office of Naval Research Reserve Component and was certified as a professional engineer.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, NC State University, 2018
• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, NC State University, 2017
• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, 2008

Teaching Interests:

• Biomechanics
• Human performance
• Sport performance
• Rehabilitation science
• Modeling and analysis of dynamic mechanical systems

Awards and Honors:

• Eagle Scout
• Omicron Delta Kappa

Scott Kiefer has spent the past 25 years teaching mechanical engineering at five different institutions. Kiefer specializes in machining, machine design, vibrations and controls, and mechatronics. As an exemplary teaching specialist in mechanical engineering at Michigan State University, he received the Withrow Award for Teaching Excellence, given to one faculty member in the College of Engineering for outstanding instructional performance. He started his career at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez in the traditional role of teaching and administering a modest research program. At Trine University, a small private school in Angola, Indiana, he taught 10 different courses from introductory first-year courses to senior design, while serving as advisor to many undergraduate research projects. For the last 14 years, Kiefer has been at York College of Pennsylvania where his concentration has been on providing hands-on undergraduate education in mechanical engineering.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, NC State University, 2000
• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, NC State University, 1997
• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, 1995

Teaching Interests:

• Basic mechanics courses
• Machining and machine design
• Mechatronics
• Vibrations and controls

Awards:

• York College Student Senate Academic Advisor Award
• Michigan State Withrow Award for Teaching Excellence
• Tri-State University Frank and Julie Gelet McKetta Award for Outstanding Teaching
• Tri-State University Outstanding Faculty Award (Class of 2007)
• Tri-State University Outstanding Faculty Award (Class of 2005)
• Tri-State University Eli Lilly Faculty Development Grant
• University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez Proctor and Gamble Education Grant
• University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez United Technologies Educational Grant
• University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez Boeing Educational Grant

Websites:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-kiefer-15a51821

Mehran Mirramezani’s research interests broadly lie at the intersection of computational mechanics and artificial intelligence for modern engineering problem-solving and effective decision-making across a wide range of applications, including health and bioscience, design and materials, and digital twins. He leads the group Computational Mechanics and AI Laboratory (CoMAIL).

Education:

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2020

Research Interests:

• Computational mechanics
• AI
• Cardiovascular mechanics

Awards and Honors:

• National Science Foundation Computing Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Rising Stars in Mechanical Engineering Award
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers-Bioengineering Division Student Paper Competition Finalist

Prior to joining the faculty at NC State University as an assistant professor, Rohith Mittapally was a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mittapally’s research focuses on developing innovative approaches to address energy management challenges, ranging from semiconductor-scale systems to industrial renewable power generation. By leveraging expertise in precision metrology, nanofabrication and theory-guided analysis, his work aims to advance the understanding of thermal radiation and phase change phenomena. This fundamentals-driven research has promising applications in energy conversion; thermal management for emerging photonic, electronic and quantum systems; and energy storage. Recently, his work also focuses on theoretical advances and low-cost, scalable solutions for solar desalination, radiative cooling and atmospheric water harvesting.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2021
• B.Tech and M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), 2014

Research Interests:

• Nanoscale energy transport
• Light-matter interactions
• Thermal photonics
• Heat transfer at extremes
• Precision sensing and instrumentation
• Biological calorimetry
• Radiative cooling

Awards and Honors:

• ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award, Honorable Mention at U-M
• Mechanical Engineering Departmental Fellowship at U-M
• DAAD WISE Scholarship

Websites:

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=EjEOoHIAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/mittapally-rohith-8315b24b

Jialong Shen is a two-time graduate of NC State University, with an M.S. in textile engineering in 2012 and a Ph.D. in fiber and polymer science in 2017, both under the guidance of Emeritus Professor Alan Tonelli. His graduate work has mainly focused on fundamental understanding of polymer behaviors and studying various ways to manipulate polymer structures across different length scales. Immediately after graduation, he joined the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science as a postdoc working with Professor Emeritus Sam Hudson on biomedical applications of polymers. In 2019, he joined the Textile Biocatalysis Research group led by Professor Sonja Salmon and started working on enzyme immobilization and other related enzymatic processes for improving textiles sustainability. As of August 2025, Shen is an assistant professor and leads the Sustainable Polymer Research group.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Fiber and Polymer Science, North Carolina State University, 2017
• M.S. in Textile Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2012
• B.E. in Textile Engineering, Donghua University, 2011

Research Interests:

• Structure-property relationships of polymers
• Biosynthesis with enzymes
• Bio-based coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers (CASE)
• Polymer membranes
• Polymer stability and (bio)degradation mechanisms
• Sustainable sportswear/footwear materials

Awards and Honors:

Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research, American Chemical Society-Division of Polymer Chemistry (2016)