People
LAMPS Principal Investigator
Prahalada Rao, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech
prahalad@vt.edu
Dr. Rao's scholastic passion is captured in three words: Manufacturing, Sensing, and Analytics. He was awarded the 2018 NSF CAREER grant for sensor-based monitoring and control of additive manufacturing processes. He earned the 2017 Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Yoram Koren Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, and the 2019 UNL College of Engineering Research and Creativity Award. He has over 50 peer-reviewed publications in flag-ship journals, such as the ASME Transactions, IEEE Transactions, IIE Transactions. His research has garnered over $ 2 million in funding from federal agencies, including NSF, DOE, and Office of Naval Research.
Ph.D., Industrial Engineering; Oklahoma State University (2013)
M.S., Industrial Engineering; Oklahoma State University (2006)
B.Eng. degree (First Class) Production Engineering, Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute (VJTI), Bombay University, India (2003)
- Outstanding Reviewer, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 2018
- Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, 2017.
- Finalist: IIE Manufacturing and Design Division Young Investigator Award, 2016
- Nominated for Institute of Industrial Engineers, Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award, 2014
- Nominated for university-wide Dissertation Award, 2013
- Finalist, Institute of Industrial Engineers, John L. Imhoff graduate fellowship,2011
- Outstanding Research Assistant Award, Alpha Pi Mu, Oklahoma State University chapter, 2008
- National Science Foundation – CMMI 1752069, CAREER: Smart Additive Manufacturing: Fundamental Research in Sensing, Data Science, and Modeling Toward Zero Part Defects. 2018-2023
- National Science Foundation – CMMI 1739696, CPS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Cyber-Enabled Online Quality Assurance for Scalable Additive Bio-Manufacturing. 2017-2021
- National Science Foundation – CMMI 1719388, Biosensor Data Fusion for Real-time Monitoring of Global Neurophysiological Function. 2015 - 2018
Current Graduate Students
Kaustubh Deshmukh
Expected Graduation Date: Spring 2026
Reagan Orth
Expected Graduation Date: Spring 2029
Mihir Darji
Expected Graduation Date: Summer 2027
Xuancheng Jin
Expected Graduation Date: Fall 2029
Antonio Carrington
Expected Graduation Date: Summer 2027
Hunter Goddard
Expected Graduation Date: Spring 2029
Former Graduate Students
David Spadaccia
MS Graduate 2025
Virginia Tech
Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) of a Complex Aerospace Component: Effects of Layerwise Process Control on Part Quality
Current Employment: Agile Space
Aniruddha C. Gaikwad
PhD Graduate 2022
Smart Additive Manufacturing: Sensing, Monitoring, and Machine Learning for Quality Assurance in Metal Additive Manufacturing.
Current Employment: Xerox, Charlotte, NC
M. Reza Yavari
PhD Graduate 2021
Thermal Modeling in Metal Additive Manufacturing using Graph Theory
Current Employment:
Vulcan Forms, Boston, MA
Aniruddha Gaikwad
MS Graduate 2019
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Design Rules for Additive Manufacturing
Ashley D’Souza
MS Graduate 2016
Binghamton University
Experimental Evolutionary Optimization of Geometric Integrity in Fused Filament Fabrication Additive Manufacturing Process
Current Employment: Manufacturing Engineer at AMETEK Haydon Kirk Motion Solutions, Waterbury, Connecticut, CT.
Benjamin Bevans
PhD Graduate 2024
Virginia Tech
Born Qualified Additive Manufacturing: In-situ Part Quality Assurance in Metal Additive Manufacturing
Current Employment: Velo 3D
Samuel E. Gerdes
PhD Graduate 2022
Defect Detection and Process Control in Biological Additive Manufacturing
Mohammed H. Kobir
MS Graduate 2021
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thermomechanical Modeling in Metal Additive Manufacturing using Graph Theory
Mohammad Montazeri
PhD Graduate 2019
Smart Additive Manufacturing: In-Process Sensing and Data Analytics for Online Defect Detection in Metal Additive Manufacturing Processes.
Current Employment: Novartis, Cambridge, MA
Mohammad Samie Tootooni
PhD Graduate 2016, (Binghamton University)
Sensor Based Monitoring of Multidimensional Complex Systems Using Spectral Graph Theory.
Current Employment: Tenure-track Assistant Professor at Loyola University, Chicago
Alex Riensche
PhD Graduate 2024
Virginia Tech
Prediction and Control of Thermal History in Laser Powder Bed Fusion
Current Employment: ASTRO America
Ziyad Smoqi
PhD Graduate 2022
M3AM: Materials, Monitoring, and Machine Learning for Flaw-free Additive Manufacturing
Current Employment: GE Aviation, Cincinnati, OH
Jordan Severson
MS Graduate 2020
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thermal Modeling in Directed Energy Deposition using Graph Theory
Roozbeh Salary
PhD Graduate 2018
Binghamton University
Primary Supervisor: Dr. Mark Poliks (I was the co-supervisor for Roozbeh, but had to relinquish my role after moving to UNL. However, we published 3 papers between 2016-2019).
Current Employment: Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Engineering Division at Marshall University, West Virginia.
Current Undergraduate Students
Vivian Denny
Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech
Fall 2025 – Current.
