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LAMPS Principal Investigator

Esra Buyuktahtakin Toy

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.
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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

Graduate Student
Ben Bevans 
Expected Graduation Date: August 2023.

 

Graduate Student
Alexander Reinsche 
Expected Graduation Date: August 2023.

 

Graduate Student
Leandro Castro
Expected Graduation Date: August 2022

 

Former Graduate Students

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. 
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 
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 & Recent Undergraduate Students

Ben Bevans
Mechanical Engineering, University of Nebraska, Funded through UNL UCARE.
Spring 2017 – Current.
John Woollam Scholar 2019.
August McLenehan
Mechanical Engineering, University of Nebraska, Funded through UNL UCARE.
Summer 2018
Grant King
Mechanical Engineering, University of Nebraska, University of Nebraska, Funded through UNL UCARE and NSF REU supplemental funding ($8,000).
Spring 2017 – Present.
John Wollam Scholar 2019.
Emily Curtis
Mechanical Engineering, University of Nebraska.
Fall 2016.
Sam Gerdes
Biosystems Engineering, University of Nebraska, University of Nebraska, Funded through UNL UCARE and NSF REU supplemental funding ($8,000).
Spring 2017 – August 2019. 
Ryan Donovan
Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton, Funded through NSF REU supplemental funding ($5,000).
2015-2016.
Joseph Broadway
Mechanical Engineering, University of Nebraska, Funded through UNL UCARE.
Spring 2018 – Spring 2019.