Written by: College of Engineering July 23, 2019 Dr. Rui Ma. joins the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department as Assistant Professor. Dr. Ma received his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2013, and the B.Eng. degree in Automation from Tsinghua University in 2009. Prior to joining UAH, he was a Lecturer and Postdoc Scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of California, Davis, where he was teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, collaborating with visiting scholars, supervising undergraduate and graduate students and conducting research on dynamic transportation network modeling, new mobilities, sustainable transportation systems and urban traffic data analytics. Dr. Ma’s research interests include understanding and analyzing dynamic commuting traffic patterns with new mobility services in both analytical and numerical forms, designing accessible and intelligent control strategies to enhance the performance in efficiency and toward an environment and public health-friendly transportation system, and leveraging real-time infrastructure data and crowd-sourcing data for forecasting and managing traffic systems. Dr. Isaac Torres-Díaz joins the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department as Assistant Professor. He received his Bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from Universidad Nacional de Trujillo (Peru), M.S. in mechanical engineering and Ph.D. in chemical engineering degrees from University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez campus. After graduate school, he joined University of Florida as post-doctoral research associate for two years. Prior to joining UAH, Dr. Torres-Díaz worked as Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research combines the synthesis, characterization, real-time imaging, and multi-scale modeling, to fundamentally understand the interactions and collective response of colloidal suspensions composed of anisotropic particles. His research interests aim to apply the fundamental understanding of the anisotropic particle behavior and interactions under the influence of external fields in various technologies, such as tunable/responsive materials, photonic materials, biosensors, tissue engineering, passive and active suspensions, drug delivery, hyperthermia, and cooling of electronic components, among others. Dr. Adurthi obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2013 and 2016 respectively. He obtained his B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology at Guwahati in 2010. Prior to joining the MAE, Dr. Adurthi worked for startup in Chicago from 2016 to 2017, developing machine learning algorithms for human gesture and activity recognition. He later joined the Aerospace Engineering department at Texas A&M University in College Station as a postdoctoral research associate from 2017 to 2019. Dr. Adurthi’s primary research is in the area of Uncertainty Quantification for nonlinear systems. His research interests and contributions also span the general areas of Dynamics, Controls and Estimation. He has made fundamental contributions in developing numerically efficient methods for uncertainty quantification of dynamical systems. His research also focuses on the theoretical and practical development of efficient autonomous robotic and aerospace systems. Dr. Aubrey Beal received B.E.E. (2010), M.S. (2012) and Ph.D. (2015) degrees in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University in Auburn, AL. His work in graduate school used concepts in nonlinear dynamics to innovate techniques for communication systems, compressive noise ranging systems and true random number generation in integrated circuits. During a postdoctoral appointment with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oakridge Institute for Science and Education for the U.S. Army AMRDEC from 2015-2017, he applied these concepts to give unique advantages to physical systems. He has industry experience in bulk power systems with Southern Company in Birmingham, AL, power electronics for high performance computers with IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY as well as metal detection for biomedical and industrial applications with Enventys in Charlotte, NC. Since 2017, Dr. Beal has served as a researcher and electronics engineer with the U.S. Army RDECOM (now Futures Command CCDC) Charles M. Bowden Laboratory at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. This work supports basic and applied research for the U.S. Army. He is currently interested in enhancement and security of cyber-physical systems though advances in nonlinear dynamics, machine learning and signal processing. Dr. Nicholas Loyd is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Industrial and Systems Engineering and Engineering Management department, and also serves as Director of the Center for Management and Economic Research, at University of Alabama in Huntsville. He has over 20 years of experience researching and implementing Lean production systems and supply chain concepts. He has worked closely with executives, managers, engineers, and team members in a variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, medical devices, seaport operations, and other manufacturing industries. Dr. Nicholas Loyd specializes in strategic plan deployment, leadership skills development, value stream mapping, and kaizen facilitation. His training credentials include the Toyota Production System Support Center for Top Management, Toyota Kata Coach, Eureka! Ranch Innovation College, MIT Lean Advancement Initiative, MIT executive certification in IoT Business Implications, and NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership. He is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Innovation Engineering Black Belt, and certified Practical Energy trainer. Nic has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering, a master’s degree in Engineering Management, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
