Dearborn Engineer, Fall 2005 - College of Engineering & Computer ...

FALL 2005 

D E A R B O R N 

Engineer 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-DEARBORN 

GRADUATE 

DEGREE 

PROGRAMS: 

LEADING-EDGE EDUCATION 

AND RESEARCH FOR THE 

WORKING ENGINEER

The Dearborn Engineer 

Fall 2005 

6 

IMSE GRADUATE PROGRAMS 

News from the College of 

Engineering and Computer Science, 

University of Michigan-Dearborn 

www.engin.umd.umich.edu 

Graduate Degree Programs at CECS 1 

CIS Graduate Degree Programs 2 

ECE Graduate Degree Programs 4 

IMSE Graduate Degree Programs 6 

ME Graduate Degree Programs 8 

Interdisciplinary Programs 10 

IAVS Offers Graduate Students Experience 11 

Ford Partnership with IAVS 12 

11 IAVS PROGRAMS 

Co-op Employer of the Year: DENSO 15 

DENSO Gift 13 

New Visiting Committee Members 14 

Scholarship Awards 15 

New Faculty Members 16 

Faculty Research Awards 17 

Student Robotics Activities 18 

2005 Annual Alumni Awards 20 

Editorial Board 

Subrata Sengupta, Ph.D., Dean 

Keshav S. Varde, Ph.D., Associate Dean 

Editor: Kathryn Tamborino 

12 FORD MOTOR COMPANY FUND 

The Dearborn Engineer is published for the alumni 

and friends of the University of Michigan-Dearborn 

College of Engineering and Computer Science. 

Send correspondence to the Editor, Dearborn Engineer, 

4901 Evergreen Road, Dearborn, MI 48128-1491. 

Regents of the University 

David A. Brandon, Laurence B. Deitch, 

Olivia P. Maynard, Rebecca McGowan, 

Andrea Fischer Newman, Andrew C. Richner, 

S. Martin Taylor, Katherine E. White, 

Mary Sue Coleman (ex officio) 

Citizens Advisory Committee 

Ismael Ahmed, Stephen T. Economy, Linda P. Kughn, 

Patricia Mooradian, Timothy J. O’Brien, Jon Pepper, 

Michael C. Porter, Maria Leonhauser Rosenau, 

Shirley R. Stancato 

18 ROBOTICS


Graduate Degree Programs at CECS 

In order to remain relevant, all major 

engineering schools cater to the needs of their 

students. The graduate programs at the College 

of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) go 

a step further and also work to meet the needs of 

its stakeholders, the engineering companies and 

industries who benefit from the college’s research 

and highly qualified graduates. 

Over the past 40 years, the CECS graduate 

programs have sought to balance research and 

practice, a balance that pushes the boundaries 

of what is currently possible but stays rooted in 

practical application. This approach provides 

opportunities for full-time students to pursue 

leading-edge research while accommodating 

part-time students who need to solve daily problems 

facing them in their industry jobs. “I would 

say that we have succeeded in achieving this 

balance,” says Malayappan Shridhar, chair of the 

electrical and computer engineering department. 

More than 90 percent of the 800 graduate students 

enrolled at CECS are sponsored by their employers. 

To facilitate their education, courses are offered in the 

evening or online. Some course offerings 

are tailored directly to a specific company’s needs and 

offered on site. “Our industry partners like to see this 

sort of flexibility in education, which helps to provide 

them with a very competent and productive technical 

workforce,” says Keshav Varde, associate dean of CECS. 

“And our students appreciate the ability to enhance their 

technical education without interruption of their careers.” 

CECS offers both traditional and more unusual graduate 

programs. The traditional programs, including mechanical, 

electrical, and industrial and systems engineering, 

have been around since the 1960s, when graduate 

studies at CECS began. Newer programs have been added 

to reflect changes in industry and educational approach. 

“Our graduate programs in software engineering, automotive 

systems engineering, and engineering management 

are nearly unique,” says Varde. “Very few institutions 

offer these programs. The automotive systems program is 

interdisciplinary in nature in that students get exposure to 

important engineering disciplines that practicing engineers 

in automotive industry are expected to know. The software 

engineering program blends unique and important aspects 

of software engineering with exposure to computer science 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR JIRACHAI BUDDHAKULSOMSIRI WITH HIS 

PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS CLASS 

and computer engineering. And the engineering management 

program is designed for engineers who need more 

background in management disciplines.” 

Graduate students in all the programs have the option to 

do research with faculty members, most of whom pursue 

multiple industry-based projects at any given time. “All 

of our graduate programs are staffed by faculty who are 

knowledgeable in the field, work in the discipline, and 

pursue research activities in the discipline,” says Varde. 

“The professors at CECS are very familiar with working 

with industry and most have direct industry experience,” 

says Karl Kennedy, who received his master’s degree in 

electrical engineering in 2005. “Most of the students are 

also industry professionals. As a result, in the same way 

that the professors can challenge students, the students 

can also challenge the professors with ideas and issues 

from industry. It’s a good relationship.” 

Lisa Marie Floros, who received her master’s degree in 

industrial and systems engineering in 2000, concurs. “The 

programs offer a wide scope of applicable study,” she 

says, “which translates into greater opportunities out in 

the workforce. You increase your skill set and become 

much more marketable. I really enjoyed my entire educational 

experience at UM-Dearborn. Looking back from 

where I am now, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

DEARBORN Engineer 

Computer and Information Science 

Graduate Programs: Developing 

Software Skills for Today’s Market 

The Department of Computer and 

Information Science (CIS) offers two 

graduate degree programs, one in computer 

and information science and another in software engineering. 

The computer and information science degree is a classic 

computer science degree; students can study in many of the 

traditional areas, including operating systems, networking, 

computer graphics, information systems, and databases. 

They can also study some of the newer cutting-edge areas 

such as web or multimedia information systems, web 

services, data mining, and automotive networking. 

The software engineering program is jointly administered 

with the Department of Electrical and Computer 

Engineering, with an emphasis on embedded systems. 

“That degree will, among other things, enable graduates to 

manage large software projects,” says William Grosky, chair 

of CIS. The department also participates in a third program 

leading to a graduate degree in information systems technology, 

which is primarily run out of the Department of 

Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering. 

CIS graduate students concentrate in one of multiple 

areas, including computer graphics and geometric 

modeling, computer networks, database management, 

information systems, software engineering, and system 

software. Each program involves a mixture of core 

courses, concentration courses, cognates, and a project or 

thesis, which students conduct under the supervision of a 

faculty member. The core courses cover the principles of 

the respective disciplines, while the concentration courses 

address the application of those principles. 

Every five years, both programs are critically evaluated by 

both internal and external entities in order to update offerings 

to meet the demands of local industries and to incorporate 

major developments in the disciplines. 

“Our software engineering degree program is unique 

in the metro area, and I would say in the country,” says 

Grosky. “There are few MS programs in software engineering 

and even fewer programs with an emphasis 

in embedded systems. This is especially of interest to 

the auto companies and the U.S. Army Tank Command. 

Students with this training will gain the skills to manage 

large software projects, a skill which, so far, has not been 

outsourced, and probably won’t be.” 

Grosky remains optimistic about CIS graduate students’ 

career choices in spite of industry trends. “Many computing 

jobs have certainly been outsourced,” he says, “but 

these are mostly among low-level programming positions. 

If you believe government statistics, there will be a need 

for many, many people with the skills taught in our programs. 

This view has been echoed by Bill Gates, who is 

going around the country promoting this position. There 

are many different fields that a CIS graduate can enter. 

We’ve even had some more entrepreneurial students go 

on to start their own companies.” 

Austin Krauss, MS in Software Engineering, 2005 

Austin Krauss earned his graduate degree in software engineering (SE), 

with a concentration in computer graphics and user interface design, 

with an eye toward going into computer game development. Although 

he had chosen an unusual choice for software development research, 

Krauss found support and guidance from his professors. “Overall, I felt 

that the professors were receptive to students’ needs and were aware of 

the changes in the job market. Their motivation excited me about the 

research I was doing.” 

Today he works at the California-based Treyarch, a leading developer of 

video games best known for its Spiderman series of titles. Krauss credits 

his fledgling career to the work he did in CIS. “The program allowed me 

to study topics specific to my area of interest under the tutelage and advice 

of experienced professors,” he says. “This education allowed me to obtain the dream job I have today. With my 

background, I was able to quickly come up to speed on Treyarch’s current processes. In the future, I hope to further 

shape our software development processes based on the concepts and theories I learned in the SE program.” 

2


William Grosky, Professor and Chair, CIS 

William Grosky’s primary area of research, multimedia 

information systems, is essentially an extension of 

classical database technology. While classical databases 

concern themselves largely with textual information, 

Grosky’s work allows the management of multimedia 

information. “Of course, one can always attach 

textual annotations to images or video information,” 

says Grosky, “but an image or a video always seems to 

have more information than a single person can extract. 

After all, an image or video can be interpreted in 

multiple contexts and mean many different things.” 

Grosky is currently working on projects related to the 

bioinformatics field. “The project I’m working on right 

now, supported by the Michigan Life Science Corridor in 

collaboration with Wayne State University and UM-Ann 

Arbor, concerns the construction of optimal surgical paths 

in a patient’s brain so that a neurosurgeon can efficiently 

remove a tumor without damaging the patient.” The techniques 

used rely on various data structures and algorithms 

devised by Grosky and his research team. A previous project 

used data mining techniques to predict protein interactions 

and was supported by the National Institute for Health. 

“With the growth of technology, multimedia assets 

have proliferated,” says Grosky, “making their efficient 

management a quite important research topic. The 

techniques we use are many, including data mining 

and various statistical approaches. I really like the 

way different areas mesh in this field.” 

Computer and Information Science 

Graduate Degree Programs 

• MS in Computer and Information Science 

• MS in Software Engineering 

For more information, contact William Grosky 

at wgrosky@umich.edu or 313-436-9145. 

Qiang Zhu, Associate Professor, CIS 

One of Qiang Zhu’s current projects, sponsored by 

the National Science Foundation (NSF), involves the 

development of techniques to support efficient 

similarity queries in non-ordered discrete data spaces 

(NDDS). This project is a collaborative research effort 

between Michigan State University and UM-Dearborn. 

“Similarity searches in NDDSs are becoming increasingly 

important in areas such as bioinformatics, biometrics, 

and E-commerce,” says Zhu. “But they require robust 

indexing techniques, and unfortunately existing 

methods can’t be directly applied to them or have 

suboptimal performance. At present, we have developed 

two novel index trees to address these problems. Our 

theoretical and empirical studies thus far show that these 

techniques show a lot of promise, and we expect that the 

research results from the project will have a significant 

impact on indexing techniques in the database field.” 

Zhu’s other research focuses on query optimization, 

multidatabases, self-managing databases, and data mining, 

which has been supported by sponsors that include NSF, 

IBM, and Ford Motor Company. He has received multiple 

awards, including the UM-Dearborn Distinguished Faculty 

Research Award, the IBM Partnership Research Award, and 

the IBM Faculty Award. “I like to choose research areas 

that are not only important from a theoretical point of view 

but are also valuable from a practical perspective,” he says. 

“I enjoy dealing with challenging issues that could lead to 

significant results in the field.” 

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Electrical and Computer Engineering 

Graduate Programs: Building 

Partnerships that Extend Knowledge 

The Department of Electrical and Computer 

Engineering (ECE) offers rigorous programs 

where, as chair Malayappan Shridhar says, “hard work 

and conscientious effort are the only factors that affect 

our students’ progress.” The hard work is shared between 

faculty and students, he continues. “Ultimately, it is the 

interaction between the faculty, who try to extend the 

frontiers of knowledge, and students, with fresh and creative 

ideas, that contributes to new knowledge and discoveries. 

At the graduate level, it is always a partnership.” 

The department offers two graduate degree programs 

that lead to a master of science in engineering: one 

focuses on electrical engineering, while the other 

concentrates on computer engineering. Currently, nearly 

140 graduate students are enrolled in the two programs. 

Since the field of electrical engineering is vast, students 

narrow their studies to one of four subcategories: control 

systems, which deals with the automated control of 

processes; digital signal processing, including digital 

audio, filtering, and image processing; intelligent systems, 

which includes machine intelligence, neural networks, 

pattern recognition, and data mining; and automotive 

electronics, covering such subjects as sensors, actuators, 

and the control of electric vehicles. 

The computer engineering program offers four concentrations 

as well, including software development, hardware design 

and computer architecture, computer networks and data 

communications, and intelligent systems. 

“Computer engineering evolved out of the two fields 

of electrical engineering and computer science,” says 

Shridhar. “As a result, there can be significant overlap 

among electrical engineering, computer engineering, and 

computer science.” 

Students are encouraged to get involved in research with 

faculty who keep close ties to business. “We invite prominent 

practitioners from industry to be part of our teaching 

team,” says Shridhar. “We have been especially lucky 

to have some excellent adjunct faculty to help us here.” 

Research support comes from such industry giants as Ford 

Motor Company, Lear Corporation, and the U.S. military. 

The department offers from 10 to 12 courses each term. 

Students complete 30 hours of course work, including projects 

and theses, but the department allows a fair amount of 

flexibility within these constraints. “We use our requirements 

more as guidelines than as rigid rules,” says Shridhar. 

As with all the departments at CECS, ECE prizes a multidisciplinary 

approach to its graduate programs. “Overlap is very 

desirable in a learning environment,” says Shridhar, “and the 

synergy works to the advantage of all. For example, our course 

on embedded systems brings different engineers and scientists 

into one classroom, where each student focuses on one key 

aspect of embedded systems that includes real-time operating 

systems (computer scientists), hardware and software 

compatibility (electrical and computer engineers), and software 

development and maintenance (software engineers). And 

when students from various disciplines work together on a 

project, their different 

perspectives 

enhance their 

overall experience.” 

Karl Kennedy, MSE in Electrical Engineering, 2005 

Karl Kennedy came to his graduate studies with a solid background in PC 

software development, embedded software development, and control systems, but 

he wanted to branch out and gain application experience in pattern recognition. 

While earning his master’s degree in electrical engineering, Kennedy worked full time 

as a senior engineer at Lear Corporation doing advanced product development for 

embedded systems “I appreciated the excellent balance that ECE offered in terms of 

subject theory, application, and research,” he says. “I also liked being able to interact 

with other students working in the industry. The program is geared toward the 

working student by offering night and online classes, which was helpful.” 

“There are so many areas in which to do research and not enough students to do it all,” MALAYAPPAN SHRIDHAR AND KARL KENNEDY 

he says. “The professors have such a broad range of research experience and interests. I 

especially enjoyed the opportunity to work on industry-related projects and being able to pursue research that related to my work.” 

4 

Kennedy’s time at CECS demonstrated to him the importance of continuing his education. “You’ll become a dinosaur as an 

engineer if you don’t,” he says. “ECE does a good job of keeping in touch with engineering advancements.”


Paul Richardson, Associate Professor, ECE 

Paul Richardson is working closely with assistant 

professor Weidong Xiang to study various issues related 

to wireless communications. “One new frontier we’re 

exploring is wireless networks in embedded systems with 

the aim of reducing infrastructure cost,” says Richardson. 

“Traditional wireless aims at moving voice and data 

for mobile users. We have much tighter reliability 

constraints, but our mobility issues are much simpler.” 

One area they are studying is “drive-by-wireless,” 

which would replace conventional wired communications 

in automotive systems with wireless links. 

Other research efforts include 

the development of a low-cost 

robotic sensor platform and a 

tracking system that uses radio 

signals to track the location of 

pedestrians in the vicinity of 

an autonomous vehicle. An 

additional project explores an 

innovative approach to achieve 

a flexible real-time network. 

Yi Lu Murphey, 

Professor, ECE 

Yi Lu Murphey’s current research 

projects have spanned a wide range 

of areas, including developing 

computer vision systems for robotic 

vehicles, incremental learning in 

neural networks, hybrid learning 

systems with neural networks and 

genetic algorithms, support vector machine learning 

from large data sets, and data mining from text 

documents and time series data. 

Today her research concentrates primarily on computer 

vision and machine learning as they apply to robotic vehicle 

systems, vehicle diagnostics, health monitoring, and vehicle 

power management. “Right now, I’m applying my research 

in computer vision to unmanned ground vehicles in military 

applications as well as to intelligent commercial vehicle 

systems,” she says. 

Regarding her investigations, Murphey adds, “Graduate 

students are critical to my research success. They perform 

programming work and conduct all the experiments needed 

to validate ideas.” 

“It’s interesting to hear the 

views of people from different 

cultures and backgrounds,” 

says Richardson about working 

with graduate students 

and other faculty. “The nice 

thing about a university, and 

maybe about engineering in 

general, is that we can disagree 

and nobody has to be wrong. 

This creates an open 

environment where ideas flow freely. Engineering has 

taught me that the there are many solutions to a problem, 

each with numerous trade-offs that have relative values 

dependent on environmental and contextual parameters. 

The key to making wise decisions—to being right, in other 

words—is to understand the environment and make wise 

trade-offs. A good solution often emerges as we gain a 

better understanding of the environment and the real 

problem, as opposed to what we thought was the problem 

when we first started. In our meager way, we have added 

a few bricks to the vast wall of knowledge.” 

Electrical and Computer Engineering 

Graduate Degree Programs 

• MSE in Electrical Engineering 

• MSE in Computer Engineering 

For more information, contact Malayappan Shridhar 

at mals@umich.edu or 313-593-5420. 

5


Industrial and Manufacturing Systems 

Engineering Graduate Programs: 

Tailoring Curriculum to Engineers 

The Department of Industrial and 

Manufacturing Systems Engineering 

(IMSE) offers three graduate programs: 

industrial and systems engineering (ISE), engineering 

management (EM), and information systems and technology 

(IST). IMSE also offers a dual program with the School 

of Management that results in both an MSE in engineering 

in industrial and systems engineering and an MBA; this 

program is hosted by the School of Management. 

Industrial and systems engineering is the department’s 

oldest graduate program, dating back to the late 

1970s. The other two are joint programs: engineering 

management with the School of Management and 

information systems and technology with the Department 

of Computer and Information Science. 

“Our engineering management and information systems 

and technology programs developed out of the recognition 

that existing MBA and information technology programs 

weren’t meeting the needs of engineers in industry,” says 

Swatantra Kachhal, department chair. “For example, MBA 

programs include several accounting courses. But an 

engineer needs only sufficient accounting knowledge to 

be able to interpret financial statements and deal 

effectively with accounting departments. The EM program 

covers core areas of an MBA degree in a series of twoto 

three-credit-hour courses that contain the essentials. 

Industry representatives worked very closely with 

engineering and management faculty to develop the 

curricula for this program. That’s why we feel they’re very 

much in line with the needs in the market and in industry. 

Our engineering management program is now one of the 

ten largest in the country.” 

The information systems and technology program 

was also developed as a response to industry needs. 

“Typically,” says Kachhal, “we’ll have information science 

people who come out of a more technical, computer 

science background not knowing much about applications, 

and then we’ll have graduates of information system 

programs from business schools who know about 

application software but do not have a strong background 

in IT. We realized we needed a program somewhere in 

the middle.” The IST program combines information 

technology courses with application courses 

incorporating enterprise systems, such as SAP. Students 

learn how to take software available on the market and 

modify it to make it fit into any company’s processes. 

Each program consists of a combination of core courses, 

concentration courses, outside courses, electives, and, 

potentially, research and theses. In the ISE program, 

current topics range from human factors, ergonomics, 

and quality to statistics, mathematical and simulation 

modeling, and lean manufacturing. 

“Most of our students work full time,” says Kachhal. 

“What they learn here has a great deal of practical 

relevance. They learn, they read, they research, and 

then they apply what they’ve learned right away. This 

is important for them and for their companies.” 

Lisa Marie Floros, MSE in Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2000 

After earning her undergraduate degree from IMSE with a focus on manufacturing, Lisa Marie 

Floros decided to broaden her horizons. “My interest in more of a big-picture view of how 

a complete system comes together persuaded me to get a master’s in industrial and systems 

engineering,” says Floros. “Having a larger view, with a higher level of analysis, gave me 

the desire to head down the management path toward the business side of the industry.” 

Floros worked full time at Visteon while earning her degree, where she designed a new 

manufacturing assembly line for the Ford Focus front and rear fascias. She brought 

what she learned at IMSE to the job each day. “I had to consider everything from line 

balancing of operator tasks to ergonomics of the individual workstations,” she says. 

Currently a systems engineer in Visteon’s advanced engineering organization, Floros 

continues to draw from her education. “My education had an immediate impact 

on my job while I was in school,” she says, “and the general concepts I learned 

regarding problem solving, communication, and organization have 

continued to help me today.” 

6


Industrial and Manufacturing 

Systems Engineering Graduate 

Degree Programs 

• MS in Engineering Management 

• MS in Information Systems and Technology 

• MSE in Industrial and Systems Engineering 

• MSE/MBA in Industrial and Systems Engineering 

and Business Administration 

For more information, contact Swatantra Kachhal 

at kachhal@umich.edu or 313-593-5361. 

Armen Zakarian, 

Associate Professor, IMSE 

In his current research projects, Armen Zakarian 

develops software tools that serve both industry 

and the military. One project facilitates 

intelligent design in manufacturing through data 

mining, or extracting knowledge from large sets 

of data, in order to support process improvement. 

“Manufacturing and assembly plants currently 

capture millions of pieces of data and store them 

in databases,” says Zakarian. “But because there 

are no effective tools to extract knowledge from 

these databases, the information never gets used 

effectively. People are unable to look back historically 

at data and ask, what does this tell us? The tools 

we’re creating look to identify patterns and improve, 

for example, an assembly process based on what 

happened in the past.” 

Another project, in partnership with the U.S. military, 

was initiated to design software that allows 

personnel in the field to reconstruct the original 

shape of a broken vehicle part. The part can then 

be created, using a spray forming process that is 

also currently under development in the college. 

Zakarian’s other major focus, working with 

automotive companies to develop methodologies, 

algorithms, and software for modular product/ 

architecture design, allows vehicle systems engineers 

to develop modular, low-cost vehicle architectures 

that can be shared across vehicle platforms (for 

OEMs) and across OEMs (for suppliers). 

He credits graduate students for much of his work. 

“Without them, we couldn’t even have done 15 percent 

of what we’ve been able to do,” he says. “You have 

ideas, but they’re the ones who bring them to life.” 

Ghassan Kridli, Associate Professor, IMSE 

Ghassan Kridli’s interest in materials and manufacturing resulted 

from growing up on a poultry farm in Jordan, where replacement 

parts for farm machinery were in short supply. “I learned 

how to manufacture temporary parts that could be used until 

spare parts arrived,” he says. His early experience in sheet metal 

forming, welding, casting, and machining led him directly to the 

research projects on which he works today. 

One project involves collaborating with Ford Motor Company 

in developing its super-plastic forming technology. Kridli and 

his team of students have spent the past three years focusing 

on material characterization and process simulation with 

a goal of developing a material model that captures how the 

material would respond in various situations. With a more 

accurate model, Kridli’s team will be able to create a computer 

simulation that more accurately predicts results. 

Kridli has recently been involved with a number of other projects 

that involve studying the formability and behavior of materials, 

such as sheet metal and thermoplastic matrix composites, 

and their manufacturing feasibility for various uses. He has also 

worked on designing the body structure for the low-mass vehicle 

being created by the Institute for Advanced Vehicle Systems. 

7


Mechanical Engineering Graduate 

Program: Designing the Future 

The mechanical engineering graduate studies 

program may begin with fundamentals, but 

the department’s ultimate goal is to produce engineers 

who can creatively apply those fundamentals to develop 

innovative mechanical systems. “We have a very exciting 

graduate program, which continues to evolve,” says Ben 

Li, chair of the department. “We teach our students to 

be more creative in order to become competitive in 

industry. Labor is very expensive. To keep manufacturing 

costs down, you have to find ways to be more innovative 

than the competition in order to stay ahead. We teach 

our students to find those ways, which in turn makes 

them more desirable to industry.” 

Mechanical engineering graduate students focus on one 

of three major areas: thermal and fluid sciences, 

mechanical systems, or manufacturing. Approximately 

half of their coursework emphasizes their chosen area of 

study, while the other half is made up of classes from the 

other mechanical engineering disciplines as well as other 

departments. “We want our students to gain a wider 

exposure to other fields,” says Li, “so they’ll have a 

more diversified background from which to draw.” 

Students are given the option to do a research thesis as well. 

Opportunities for research currently include a wide variety 

of faculty projects dealing with such topics as hydrogen fuel 

cells, the manufacture of artificial bones, fundamental issues 

related to turbulence and its effect on vehicles, the effects 

of gravity and weightlessness on various materials, and 

improving fuel economy through the manufacture of better 

automotive powertrains. Sponsors include the Department 

of Defense, the Department of Energy, the National Science 

Foundation, and automotive companies. 

“In southeastern Michigan, our two main industries are 

automotive and manufacturing,” says Tariq Shamim, associate 

professor of mechanical engineering and chair of the department’s 

graduate studies committee. “Most of our research, 

although widely diversified, is somehow related to issues 

relevant to those two industries. We have unique expertise.” 

With the oldest graduate program at UM-Dearborn, the 

mechanical engineering department has long accommodated 

the working student. Its courses are primarily 

offered in the evening hours, and the students’ professional 

expertise is highly valued in the classroom. “When 

students bring their industry experience to the classroom, 

they enrich the discussion,” says Shamim. “They bring 

practical problems they encounter at work, and we help 

them solve them. It’s definitely one of the more positive 

aspects of the program.” 

“Teaching here is exciting,” says Li. “There’s a certain 

fulfillment in helping students apply what they learn, 

then come back and share with us what they encounter. 

You have the opportunity to help them enhance their 

knowledge and their careers, and at the same time you 

get to keep up with developments in industry. This kind 

of interaction is beneficial and unique for our graduate 

program. And by providing them with the tools to make 

themselves and the region competitive, you’re helping 

the next generation of engineers design the future.” 

Vahram Avagyan, MS in Computer and Information Science, 2005 

Through his research with mechanical engineering associate professor Pravansu 

Mohanty, Vahram Avagyan has been able to apply his interest in computer science 

to challenging, real-world mechanical engineering and manufacturing problems. 

Avagyan helped Mohanty develop software for rapid manufacturing systems. 

“There are a lot of mathematical problems involved in supporting rapid 

manufacturing,” says Avagyan. “You have to look at a damaged part from 

various angles and try to work with the mathematical properties of that part, 

like its symmetry, in order to project its complete shape.” 

8 

Avagyan came to UM-Dearborn primarily to work with Mohanty and was funded 

through the project. “I’m interested in applying interesting new theories of 

computer science to very practical problems,” he says. “That was the most 

exciting aspect of this project, and it’s why I came here.”


Mechanical Engineering 

Graduate Degree Program 

• MSE in Mechanical Engineering 

For more information, contact Ben Li at 

benqli@umich.edu or 313-593-5241. 

Pravansu Mohanty, Associate Professor, ME 

Pravansu Mohanty’s research deals primarily with 

on-demand custom manufacturing. A few years ago, he 

started working on this technology to develop custom 

components for military vehicles that break down in 

the field. This rapid manufacturing process looks at an 

incomplete or broken part and figures out how to 

complete it so that it can be rebuilt quickly and deployed 

immediately. Applications for his work now include tank 

components, missile defense system components, human 

prosthetics, and rapid prototyping of fuel cell components. 

“We have developed a deposition system that can consolidate 

two or more widely varying materials into a net shape based 

on a predetermined composition profile,” says Mohanty. 

“The materials are called functionally gradient materials 

(FGM), and there’s great demand for this technology.” 

One critical component in Mohanty’s research has been 

the translation of CAD data into useful manufacturing 

information. Over the past three years, graduate students 

have worked with him to develop software to do this. 

“The most meaningful interactions that I’ve had with 

students have come through research projects,” says 

Mohanty. “Research makes university life exciting for 

faculty as well as for the students.” 

Oleg Zikanov, Associate Professor, ME 

Most of Oleg Zikanov’s various research projects deal with the 

turbulent flows of fluids. “These kinds of flows are difficult to 

analyze,” says Zikanov. “They are nonlinear and chaotic. You 

have to do either experiments or computations.” He develops 

computer models to predict the flows of liquid metals, such 

as steel or aluminum, and manufactured or cast materials like 

melted silicone. 

The main applications for Zikanov’s work are in steel 

casting and aluminum manufacturing. “If you optimize the 

process,” he says, “if you make better materials, you can 

avoid extra steps in the manufacturing. With aluminum, 

this is particularly important because you have to spend a 

tremendous amount of electrical energy to make it. If we 

can provide a better predicting tool, we can help industry 

optimize the process, save some energy, and produce 

better-quality, stronger materials.” 

Zikanov’s model was introduced at some Alcoa plants, 

helping its engineers to rearrange the electrical conductive 

wire in aluminum reduction cells in order to optimize the 

shape of the magnetic field. “Optimizing the shape of the 

magnetic field provides the lowest consumption of electrical 

energy,” he says, “and the lowest emission of one particular 

greenhouse gas. They are using our model today. Every day, 

we continue to discover something really exciting.” 

9


Interdisciplinary Programs: 

Seeing the Bigger Picture 

Recognizing the importance of breadth 

across multiple engineering and 

business fields as well as depth in the area of 

automotive engineering, the College of Engineering 

and Computer Science’s interdisciplinary programs 

(IDP) were developed to take advantage of resources 

from departments throughout the school. The 

interdisciplinary graduate degrees include a master 

of science in engineering in automotive systems 

engineering (ASE) and a master of science in engineering 

in manufacturing systems engineering (MSE). A 

doctor of engineering in manufacturing engineering, 

offered through the Ann Arbor campus, is also a part 

of IDP. Each of these programs provides industrially 

relevant engineering design or research experience 

through coursework and projects or thesis. 

The graduate degree in automotive systems engineering 

is particularly unusual. “I can think of only two universities 

in the country that offer this degree,” says P. K. 

Mallick, professor of mechanical engineering and director 

of interdisciplinary programs. The ASE program is geared 

toward the automotive industry, providing in-depth knowledge 

on the technology that goes into making automobiles, 

including vehicle dynamics, energy systems, lightweight 

materials, electric and hybrid vehicles, and electronics. “The 

program is very interdisciplinary in nature because a car is an 

interdisciplinary product,” says Mallick. “Students have the 

opportunity of looking at a vehicle as a system; we look at the 

big picture first and then delve deeper.” 

While the ASE program emphasizes design, the master’s 

program in manufacturing emphasizes bringing designs to 

life. “There are overlapping courses between the two fields,” 

says Mallick. “You don’t just design something; you also 

manufacture it. The manufacturing program also goes beyond 

automobiles. It takes a systems approach, where students 

look at not only the machinery of manufacturing products 

but also how to design the product that gets manufactured.” 

Interdisciplinary Graduate 

Degree Programs 

GRADUATE STUDENTS BRENT RAJANIEMI, GARUN AGARWAL, 

ASHWIN DHARAP, AND SANGEETA GUPTA 

Supporting these programs is a handful of leading-edge 

centers, including the Institute for Advanced Vehicle Systems 

(IAVS) and the Center for Lightweight Automotive Materials 

and Processing (CLAMP). When it was founded in 1998 

with grants from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Graduate 

Automotive Technology Education program, UM-Dearborn’s 

CLAMP was the first center in the country devoted to the 

study of lightweight materials. Today the center provides 

research fellowships and assistantships to graduate students 

interested in learning about not just lightweight materials 

themselves but how to apply them in a real-world context, in 

particular through the IAVS low-mass vehicle project. 

The center also offers courses on lightweight materials such 

as aluminum and magnesium alloys, composite materials, and 

plastics. More recently, the center is also starting to study 

materials for fuel cells and materials for “green” or environmentally 

conscious engineering design. One of its most 

important activities involves compiling the latest research 

on lightweight materials into its web-based automotive 

materials database so that information is easy to find and 

accessible to both academia and industry. 

• MSE in Automotive Systems Engineering 

• MSE in Manufacturing Systems Engineering 

• Doctor of Engineering in Manufacturing 

For more information, contact P. K. Mallick at 

pkm@umich.edu or 313-593-5582. 

“One of the great strengths of the center is that it provides 

students with the opportunity to work on problems really 

related to the automotive industry,” says Mallick. “They get 

to interact with engineers and researchers with automotive 

companies and apply what they learn to major issues facing 

the industry today.” 

10


IAVS Offers Graduate Students Interdisciplinary, 

Real-World Research Experience 

The Institute for Advanced Vehicle Systems 

(IAVS) was created to advance education and 

research related to systems issues in the automotive 

industry. “It became clear as technology moved out to the 

supplier community,” says Dean Subrata Sengupta, “that 

systems integration skills and the ability to think in a 

systemic way, especially with regard to OEMs and applied 

technologies, were skill sets that simply were not being 

developed in most institutions. So we created IAVS to ensure 

that students and faculty would be challenged to think 

about entire systems rather than just in individual pieces.” 

To that end, IAVS maintains a strong interdisciplinary 

approach to applied research, ensuring that students and 

faculty from multiple disciplines work together and with 

industry representatives on each project. The institute 

offers the opportunity to take a fresh look at the way 

automobiles are designed, developed, manufactured, 

and marketed as well as the infrastructure used in these 

processes, including supply base, prototyping and 

engineering services, enterprise and financial systems, 

and distribution networks. 

“IAVS also offers an environment for all levels of the 

auto industry to explore the application of the latest 

technological advances and novel ideas that may lead to 

meeting project objectives,” says Roger Shulze, director 

of IAVS. “Right now, we’re focusing on how to design, 

develop, build, and manufacture a low-mass vehicle, 

so we’re especially looking at issues such as reduced 

weight, reduced energy consumption, reduced environmental 

impact, and low-volume manufacturing.” 

The low-mass vehicle, the foundational project of IAVS, aims 

to be 30 percent lower in mass than vehicles like the Ford 

Focus and the Toyota Echo. 

The low-mass vehicle 

will be aerodynamic, 

with an efficient body and chassis design and affordable 

manufacturing alternatives. To that end, IAVS explores 

issues such as auto body design and manufacturing; lightweight 

materials; rapid prototyping; energy management; 

safety concerns and crash-worthiness; ride, handling, and 

stability; aerodynamics; modular construction; and supply 

chain management. 

“We aim to provide a place where industry can conduct 

projects and develop concepts in conjunction with faculty 

and students in a low-risk environment,” says Shulze. 

“Graduate students can take advantage of this opportunity 

to work on real-world problems and solve real-world issues, 

much like those they will encounter when they enter the 

industrial workforce. They can work with other graduate 

students from a broad spectrum of disciplines who may be 

working on their own research projects but are nevertheless 

tied together in a common theme—the design and 

development of a low-mass vehicle.” 

As part of its mission to focus on the big picture, IAVS also 

offers students and faculty the opportunity to collaborate 

not only with industry but also with other institutions, such 

as the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and RWTH 

Aachen University in Germany. Through IAVS’s Automotive 

Design Studio, engineering students work with industrial 

design students to flesh out each other’s expertise and 

create more fully developed automotive design concepts. 

Graduate students from throughout CECS may participate 

in IAVS projects. “IAVS offers students the opportunity 

to participate in cutting-edge automotive 

research,” says Shulze, “and the chance 

to gain experience in the design and 

development of complex automotive 

systems, experience that will make 

them more in demand as they 

seek jobs following graduation.” 

11


Ford Continues Its Partnership 

with IAVS through Generous Pledge 

DANIEL LITTLE, UM-D CHANCELLOR; ROMAN KRYGIER, GROUP VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL MANUFACTURING AND QUALITY, FORD MOTOR 

COMPANY; AND SUBRATA SENGUPTA, DEAN, AT THE SITE OF THE NEW BUILDING THAT WILL HOUSE IAVS 

With a generous pledge through its Ford 

Motor Company Fund, Ford has reaffirmed its 

commitment to the Institute for Advanced Vehicle 

Systems (IAVS) and its cross-disciplinary, systemic 

approach to automotive design and development. 

Ford’s pledge of $800,000 over the next five years will 

help ensure the permanence of IAVS and its objectives 

of supporting research and education in complex vehicle 

systems. The first pledge installment took place this year. 

“I’m delighted about Ford’s gift,” says Roger Shulze, 

director of IAVS. “Ford has been with IAVS almost from 

its beginning, and this gift means that it will continue to 

be a partner for years to come. This gift will go a long way 

to help assure the continued success of the institute.” 

Approximately three quarters of the money will fund 

projects related to the institute’s keystone project, the 

low-mass vehicle, an experimental car roughly the size 

of the Ford Focus but with 30 percent less mass. Current 

projects include a parametric model that will reduce the 

time required to design a new vehicle; a parametric 

analysis of the low-mass vehicle’s seat structure; design 

and analysis of its brake system, including brake-by-wire 

(or wireless) reliability; and a capstone design project 

involving analysis of its dual sliding doors. 

The rest of the gift will support continued collaborative 

learning among the University of Michigan-Dearborn 

and other schools worldwide, such as the College for 

Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit. Students and staff at 

UM-Dearborn and CCS currently work together to design 

a variety of automotive components, including doors, roof 

modules, and center consoles. 

Key to making this gift happen was Roman Krygier, group 

vice president of global manufacturing and quality at 

Ford. Krygier, a member of the College of Engineering 

and Computer Science Visiting Committee, has been a 

longtime champion of UM-Dearborn and IAVS. “He has 

a truly strong dedication to the education of engineers,” 

says Dean Subrata Sengupta, “and to the continued 

development of facilities and people within the 

automotive industry, both in automotive manufacturing 

and in product development.” Doug Szopo, executive 

director of manufacturing and business strategy at Ford, 

also played a significant role bringing about this gift. 

“IAVS was created to address systems integration skills 

and the ability to think in a systemic way, a skill set 

that simply was not being developed in most institutions,” 

says Sengupta. “We wanted to ensure that students and 

faculty would be challenged to think about entire systems 

rather than pieces. Ford believes in this. Its gift will 

help keep a very fundamental trust of this college 

alive and well for the future.” 

12


DENSO Gift Provides 

New Climate Control Lab 

Through its North America Foundation, 

DENSO, a global supplier of automotive technology, 

systems, and components, has given $250,000 

to the College of Engineering and Computer Science. 

The gift, which will be delivered over a five-year 

period, will build the school’s new DENSO Climate 

Control Education and Research Laboratory. 

“As a strategy, we try to create the best 

instructional environment for functioning in the 

automotive industry,” says Dean Subrata Sengupta. 

“One of the areas we deal with involves automotive 

climate control. Equipment that will be purchased 

through DENSO’s significant gift will allow us to 

have one of the best automotive climate control 

facilities in any university.” 

Largely responsible for this donation are John 

Voorhorst, DENSO’s vice president of external 

affairs and president of the DENSO North America 

Foundation, and Barbara Wertheimer, secretary 

and program officer of the foundation. 

“This gift adds depth to our relationship with a 

major engineering program involved in teaching 

and research that’s right off our song sheet,” says 

Voorhorst. “DENSO is a world leader in manufacturing 

car air conditioners. Additionally, we’re excited to 

have DENSO staff involved in development of the new lab.” 

Pat Bassett, DENSO’s director of climate control 

engineering, will be coordinating development of 

the laboratory with Eric Ratts, CECS associate 

professor of mechanical engineering. 

“I’m very excited about the generous contribution from the 

DENSO North America Foundation,” says Ratts. “The lab 

will only add to the excellent mechanical engineering 

education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and 

provide additional learning experiences both through 

research and through instruction. It will now be possible 

to obtain the equipment we’ve needed for a long time and 

to develop the laboratory to enhance the mechanical 

engineering curriculum. Students will benefit from this gift 

for years to come.” 

The new lab will be used to facilitate research and other 

educational opportunities in the field of automotive climate 

control, which addresses the heating, air conditioning, 

defogging, and defrosting of vehicles. Students will be able 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ERIC RATTS, DENSO PROGRAM OFFICER 

BARBARA WERTHEIMER, DEAN SUBRATA SENGUPTA, AND DENSO 

DIRECTOR OF CLIMATE CONTROL ENGINEERING PAT BASSETT 

to perform heat exchanger studies with a new wind tunnel, 

which will provide the necessary steady uniform airflow to 

measure heat exchanger performance. A thermal imaging 

camera will allow students to measure things like the 

temperature distribution of a heat exchanger in order to 

determine unwanted hotspots and make design corrections. 

Mechanical engineering core courses will use the 

new equipment to demonstrate external flow and heat 

transfer principles, and both students and faculty will 

be able to use the equipment for student design projects, 

guided studies, and faculty research. 

Development of the lab, which will be located in the 

Engineering Laboratory Building, has already begun 

and is expected to be completed within the coming year. 

13


Welcome, New Visiting Committee Members 

ANGELO DIMITRIOU 

Vice President, Technology, 

Smiths Aerospace Systems 

Angelo Dimitriou is vice 

president of technology at 

Smiths Aerospace Systems, 

where he has worked since 

1967. His previous 

positions at Smiths 

Aerospace include vice 

president of engineering 

technology, electronic 

systems, where he 

was responsible for 

developing the core computing system for the Boeing 

787, and vice president of engineering and development 

programs, where he worked on the flight management 

system for Air Force One and the Airbus A320. 

Prior to joining Smiths Aerospace, Dimitriou held engineering 

positions at Honeywell and Ford Motor Company. 

Dimitriou received his bachelor’s degree in electrical 

engineering from UM-Dearborn in 1965 and his master’s 

degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State 

University in 1970. He is married with two sons and 

two grandchildren. 

KEVIN S. GAGNON 

Vice President, 

Automotive Business Unit, 

STMicroelectronics 

As vice president of 

STMicroelectronics’ 

automotive business unit 

since 2002, Kevin Gagnon 

maintains responsibility 

for that company’s North 

American automotive 

marketing, sales, business 

operations, quality, and 

technical services. 

guided his unit to become the company’s first field office 

to pass a third-party audit of their processes with no 

non-conformances. 

Gagnon graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical 

engineering from UM-Dearborn. 

GARRICK HU 

Vice President, Advanced 

Engineering and Product 

Strategy, Commercial 

Vehicle Systems, 

ArvinMeritor, Inc 

Garrick Hu is vice 

president, advanced 

engineering and 

product strategy, for 

the commercial vehicle 

systems business 

group of ArvinMeritor 

Inc. In this position, he 

leads a consortium of advanced engineers and is 

responsible for creating a competitive advantage for 

the company through the mechanical and electronic 

integration of heavy-duty axles, drivelines, trailer systems, 

suspensions, brakes, and transmissions. 

With more than 30 years of experience in research, new 

product development, and advanced engineering with 

heavy truck OEMs, Hu joined ArvinMeritor in 2002. Prior 

to that, he was vice president, advanced engineering, for 

the Volvo Global Trucks Group in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

Before that, Hu held senior engineering positions with 

Mack Trucks, International Truck and Engine Company, 

Kenworth Truck Company, and PACCAR. 

A graduate of the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s 

degree in mathematics and computer science, as well as a 

master’s degree in mechanical engineering, Hu also holds 

an MBA from Chapman College in Orange, California. 

Prior to his current appointment, Gagnon held a variety of 

management positions in sales and business operations at 

STMicroelectronics, which he joined as a quality engineer 

in 1995. During his time in the automotive business unit, 

he has presided over an organization that has consistently 

achieved double-digit growth each year. Additionally, 

in support of STMicroelectronics’ recent achievement of 

attaining ISO/TS 16949 certification, Kevin successfully 

14


2005 Co-op Employer 

of the Year: DENSO 

International America, Inc. 

DENSO International America, Inc. was named Cooperative 

Education Employer of the Year at the annual Cooperative 

Education Employer-Student Recognition Breakfast in May 2005. 

The College of Engineering and Computer Science honored the 

DENSO organization for its long-time support and assistance in 

promoting and sustaining a quality cooperative education program. 

Subrata Sengupta, dean, presented the award to John 

Voorhorst, vice president of external affairs, DENSO International 

America Inc., and president, DENSO North America Foundation. 

“DENSO provides exceptionally high-quality, hands-on engineering 

learning experiences for our students and exemplifies the necessary 

commitment to student learning for professional growth,” says 

cooperative education director Anthony DeLaRosa. “We are very 

grateful to DENSO for its support.” 

GEE PYE, HR RECRUITING SPECIALIST, DENSO; CHERYL SROKA, 

HR ADMINISTRATOR, DENSO; ANTHONY DELAROSA, COOPERATIVE 

EDUCATION DIRECTOR, CECS; AND JOHN VOORHURST, VICE PRESIDENT 

OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, DENSO 

For more information about the Engineering Cooperative Education Program at UM-Dearborn, go 

online to www.engin.umd.umich.edu/student_services/coop/ or contact Anthony DeLaRosa at 

delaroan@umich.edu or 313-593-5078. 

2005-2006 Scholarship Awards 

Detroit Edison Minority 

and Women Scholarship 

Rose Chambers 

Samantha Longfield 

Jennifer Ng 

David Roose 

Frederick P. and Violet 

Sharpe Endowed Scholarship 

Mohannad Abdulrahim 

Bilal Alasry 

Jeffrey Bremer 

Hyunwook Cho 

Shawn Kowaleski 

Eric Lammers 

Mehdi Paul Mazloom 

Fatwan Munaser 

Michael Ramey 

Daniel Strimpel 

DaimlerChrysler Minority 

and Women Scholarship 

Stephanie Askew 

Rimma Isayeva 

Anna Lee 

Lauren Marzolf 

Eva Moussa 

Robert L. Husak 

Memorial Scholarship 

Philip Gerrity 

Yuhan Li 

Henry W. Patton 

Endowed Scholarship 

Nicholas Asciutto 

Andrew Averhart 

Ali Ayoub 

Adam Bass 

Albert Borrego 

Daniel Bowden 

Chelsea Calderone 

Nicholas Calus 

Diana Cameron 

Kyle Cesarz 

Rachel Crouse 

Sean Cwiek 

Mark Davis 

Jason Earl 

Michael Evich 

William Filipski 

Stephen Frost 

Travis Gage 

Kushal Gargesh 

Robyn Gutman 

Iman Haghgooie 

Michael Hampton 

Johnny Jackson 

Jessica Lowe 

Melissa Masters 

Daniel McClure 

Malek Musleh 

Ryan Pacheco 

Aaron Romain 

Kory Schonsheck 

Scott Shaw 

Russell Shirey 

Joshua Smith 

Matthew Sturges 

Nathan Styles 

Mark Valentin 

William Weidendorf 

Patrick Yee 

Matthew Zierau 

DaimlerChrysler 

Freshman Scholarship 

Ashley Axford 

Nicole Berry 

Albert Borrego 

Melissa McLeod 

Ashley Taylor 

Inga Yuditsky 

General Motors Minority/ 

Women Scholarhip 

Velerie Borza 

Tiffany Klupacs 

Sean Williams 

CECS/Ford Freshman 

Minority Scholarship 

Alyssa Chambers 

Jonathan Contreras 

Amanda Davison 

Michael Mixon 

Uzoma Okeke 

Kristina Rembisz 

Shawna Stratton 

Heather Velliky 

Nicole Witkowski 

Matthew Woodford 

Lindsay Yaros 

15


New CECS Faculty Members 

Vehicle, Power Electronics, and Motor Drive Laboratory. 

He was granted both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees 

in electrical engineering from Korea University, Seoul, 

Korea, in 1994 and 1998, respectively. 

BEN LI 

Professor and Chair 

Department of Mechanical Engineering 

His research interests include sensorless control of AC 

motor drives, power conversion systems, design and control 

of hybrid electric vehicles, inverter topology for AC 

motor drives, and DSP-based power electronics and motor 

drives system control. To date, he has contributed more 

than 15 technical publications and holds one pending patent 

in the motor drives and power electronics area. Kim is 

a member of the IEEE Power Electronics Society and a full 

member of Sigma Xi (the scientific research society). 

Ben Q. Li, professor and chair of the Department of 

Mechanical Engineering, received his doctoral degree at 

the University of California, his master’s degree at the 

Colorado School of Mines, and his bachelor’s degree at 

Central South University of Technology, Hunan, China. 

He previously taught at Washington State University 

and Louisiana State University, and served as associate 

director of the Center for Advanced Multiphase Materials 

Processing at Washington State from 2000 to 2002. 

Li’s research interests include fluid flow, heat and mass 

transfer, hydrodynamic and microscale phenomena in thermal 

fluids, materials processing and manufacturing systems; 

computational fluid flow and heat transfer; multiscale 

modeling; and integrated model-guided design for thermal 

fluids systems and materials and their processing systems. 

NAEEM SELIYA 

Assistant Professor 

Department of Computer and Information Science 

Naeem Saliya, assistant professor of computer and 

information science, received his master’s degree in 

computer science and his Ph.D. in computer engineering 

from Florida Atlantic University in 2001 and 2005, 

respectively. He earned his bachelor’s degree in civil 

engineering from the University of Bombay, India, in 1995. 

TAEHYUNG KIM 

Assistant Professor 

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 

Taehyung Kim received his Ph.D. degree in electrical 

engineering in 2003 from Texas A&M University, where 

he was also employed as a researcher in the Advanced 

Prior to joining the UM-Dearborn community, Seliya 

worked at the Empirical Software Engineering 

Laboratory and the Data Mining and Machine Learning 

Laboratory while pursuing his graduate studies at 

Florida Atlantic University. 

Seliya’s research and teaching interests lie in software 

engineering, data mining, computational intelligence, 

computer data security, and knowledge-based systems. 

16


Faculty Research Awards 

VIVEK BHISE, professor of industrial manufacturing 

systems engineering, has received additional funding 

from Collins & Aikman in the amount of $19,492 to 

develop a method to evaluate tactile feel characteristics of 

automotive steering wheels. He also received $13,818 from 

Sanyo Automotive U.S.A., Inc., to develop design concepts 

for center consoles for future automotive products. 

Additionally, the Robert Bosch Corporation awarded 

Bhise $59,225 to provide technical guidance to Bosch 

engineering personnel in implementing the Design for 

Six Sigma Methodology. 

JIRACHAI BUDDHAKULSOMSIRI, assistant professor, 

and SWATANTRA KACHHAL, professor and chair, both 

of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, 

received a $48,916 award from Blue Cross Blue Shield 

of Michigan to support the development of an effective 

stratified sampling plan and analysis methodology. 

JINHUA GUO, NILESH PATEL, QIANG ZHU and 

KIUMI AKINGBEHIN, computer and information 

science faculty, along with WEIDONG XIANG and 

PAUL RICHARDSON, electrical and computer 

engineering faculty, have been awarded $242,582 from 

the National Science Foundation (NSF). This funding will 

provide an environment for experimental research in 

wireless networking and mobile computing within the 

context of automotive applications. 

HONG-TAE KANG, assistant professor of mechanical 

engineering, was awarded $10,000 from the Auto/Steel 

Partnership to examine fatigue test data and evaluate 

fatigue damage parameters widely employed in 

automotive structure design for spot welds. 

GHASSAN KRIDLI, associate professor of industrial and 

manufacturing systems engineering, has been awarded 

$49,795 from Battelle Memorial Institute to support the 

development of a new 3D model formulation to develop 

and demonstrate electromagnetic field coil designs tailored 

for specific applications in metal-forming operations. 

CHEOL LEE, assistant professor of industrial and 

manufacturing systems engineering, received $15,000 

from the University of Michigan Office of the Vice 

President for Research (OVPR) Faculty Grants and Awards 

Program to initiate research on intelligent control systems. 

PANKAJ K. MALLICK, professor of mechanical 

engineering and director of interdisciplinary programs, 

received $49,384 from the Department of Energy to 

provide additional scholarships for students interested 

in lightweight automotive materials research. 

CAROLE MEI, 

assistant professor 

of mechanical engineering, 

received a 

$50,000 grant from 

NSF to support her 

project “Monitoring 

Structural Damage in 

Complex Connections 

Using a Wave Vibration 

Approach.” 

CHRIS MI, assistant 

CHRIS MI, RECOGNIZED IN 2005 FOR 

professor of electrical 

DISTINGUISHED TEACHING, RESEARCH, AND SERVICE 

and computer engineering, 

received $49,890 from the U.S. Army TACOM to 

support research and development of a bidirectional 

DC/DC converter that will be evaluated for higher 

power applications in hybrid electric vehicles. 

PAUL RICHARDSON, associate professor of electrical 

and computer engineering, received an additional $124,966 

from the U.S. Army TACOM to support collaborative 

research and workshops in vehicle electronics. 

SUBRATA SENGUPTA, dean of CECS, received 

additional funding in the amount of $65,000 from 

Ford Motor Company to support the Special American 

Business Internship Program. 

KESHAV VARDE, associate dean and professor of 

mechanical engineering, received an additional $62,842 

from NSF to support a program that provides research 

opportunities to undergraduates. The program focuses on 

understanding complex engine combustion processes and 

their impact on engine performance. 

WEIDONG XIANG, assistant professor of electrical 

and computer engineering, received $7,500 from the 

OVPR Faculty Grants and Awards Program to establish a 

WAVE testbed. This project will also provide electrical 

and computer engineering students with an experimental 

platform. The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs 

at UM-Dearborn is also contributing funds for this project. 

QIANG ZHU, associate professor of computer and 

information science, received a $150,000 award from 

NSF for a collaborative research effort between Michigan 

State University and UM-Dearborn. This project will 

explore the fundamental properties of multidimensional 

nonordered discrete data spaces and develop indexing 

methods exploiting these properties to support efficient 

similarity searches. 

17


Student Robotics Projects 

Bring the Future Closer 

Student innovation in the College of 

Engineering and Computer Science 

has been nowhere more visible 

than in the projects developed by 

the Intelligent Systems Club, a 

student-created and student-run 

activities organization that focuses 

entirely on designing, building, 

and testing robots. 

The Intelligent Systems Club began 

in 2002 when two students, Vin 

Varghese and Swapna Makam, 

approached Narasimhamurthi 

Natarajan, associate professor 

of electrical and computer engineering, 

to be the faculty advisor for 

a new student activities club that 

would focus on robotics. “They were 

already meeting together with a 

couple of other students and working 

together,” says Natarajan. “They 

wanted to get some space where 

they could meet more formally ONE and ASPECT OF THE PLANNED ENGINEERING LABORATORY BUILDING ADDITION 

become a student organization.” 

The club’s main focus is entry into 

two major robotics competitions 

each year, the Intelligent Ground 

Vehicle Competition (IGVC) and 

the Trinity College Firefighting 

Robotics Contest. From its early membership 

of about four students, the club has mushroomed 

today to support multiple teams and 

senior design projects. During the past year, four teams 

entered robots at IGVC and Trinity College, and the club 

also hosted a new firefighting robotics contest in Dearborn 

over the summer. 

Each contest involves entering robots into obstacle courses 

where they must perform a series of maneuvers or tasks. 

At IGVC this past year, one UM-Dearborn robot, dubbed 

RoadRunner, was second best of the seven local entries, 

narrowly losing to University of Detroit Mercy. It came 

in at seventh place out of 30 entries in the autonomous 

challenge portion of the competition, completing a course 

marked by lane markers while avoiding pitfalls such as 

construction barrels, grass, tarps, ramps, and “potholes” 

painted on the ground. Each year, UM-Dearborn has 

improved its standing in the competition, coming in at 

thirteenth place in 2003 and in eighth place in 2004. 

“Considering the amount of time that we spend on these 

robots and the budget we have to work with, we really 

Alumni, Companies, 

and Partners 

Key to Success 

ABOVE: ADAM SHOMSKY 

AND VINCE TYLUTKI 

LEFT: UM-DEARBORN’S TEAM 

AT THE 2004 IGVC 

did very well,” says 

former club president 

Varghese, who graduated 

last year. “We spent 

about $1,000 on our robots, and we competed against 

robots that were worth about quarter of a million dollars.” 

“This year, our team decided to make RoadRunner a 

differentially steered robot,” says Anthony Lucente, 

current club president. “This gave the robot a small 

turning radius, which allowed it to maneuver easily in 

extremely small spaces. We used two wheelchair motors 

for the drive, which we controlled independently.” In 

order for RoadRunner to be able to “see,” the team 

mounted a Logitech Pro 4000 web cam and a wide-angle 

lens on top of the robot to process images. 

At the Trinity contest last spring, the UM-Dearborn team 

qualified when its robot successfully maneuvered through 

an obstacle course to find and blow out a candle. In the 

final round, however, the robot ran out of steam before it 

reached the candle. Disappointed but eager to try again, the 

club sponsored a local firefighting contest during which two 

CECS teams competed against a team from another univer- 

18


sity. The graduate student team from 

Diverse Scholarships UM-Dearborn Allow 

won that competition. 

Students to Focus on Education 

Although CECS offers automated approximately factory 90 systems scholarships, currently including exist, the difference between the students’ version 

DaimlerChrysler and those currently Minority available and Women on the Scholarship, market lies Richard in cost. “Current market products 

use A. Csonka a magnetic-gyro Memorial guiding Scholarship, and navigation CECS/Ford system Freshman that utilizes magnetic markers buried in the 

floor Minority of a Scholarship, factory,” says Detroit Davey. Edison “Some Minority use laser and guidance Women and navigate using wire technology. 

The major difference between this project and the products already available is the flexibility 

Scholarship, National Science Foundation Scholarship, 

and cost of the system. Instead of using magnetic markers, laser, or buried wires in a floor of the 

Frederick P. and Violet Sharpe Endowed Scholarship, and 

factory, our system only requires that you draw a black line on the ground. You could use black 

the Henry Patton II Scholarship. 

paint or tape to lay down the desired path. So if you needed to change the factory layout, you 

wouldn’t 

Some awards 

have 

go 

to 

to 

dig 

outstanding 

up the floor 

women 

to adjust 

or 

the 

underrepre- 

previous system or have to try and strategically 

position lasers. You just paint or tape a new path, and the system will adjust accordingly.” 

Davey, who has since graduated, believes his work on the project helped him gain his current 

job developing electronics for hydraulic control systems that operate telecommunication 

equipment. “When we proposed the project, it seemed almost impossible,” he says, “but after 

two semesters we had a functional prototype. To actually see the robots pick up and place 

objects without any human intervention was very rewarding. The knowledge I gained from this project 

went far beyond anything I learned in the classroom.” 

“It’s a great feeling when you can apply something you have learned and see it actually work,” 

PAUL RICHARDSON 

concurs Varghese. 

Robotics 

Activities 

Alumni 

The vehicle inspection robot was created by 

seniors Alex Fisher, Adam Kibit, and Jowan 

Taymour. At only six inches in diameter, the 

Olamide Adabonyan 

To remain competitive and to help ensure academic 

robot 

success, 

universities must invest in their students, and the DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company, and Detroit 

is slightly 

sented 

larger 

minority 

than 

students, 

a typical CD, 

including scholarships from 

enabling it to easily slip underneath vehicles 

Sarra Awad 

and examine them for explosives or smuggled 

materials. It can be controlled over the Winford Bishop 

Alex Beard 

University of Michigan-Dearborn is no exception. The Edison. These students must maintain GPAs of at least 

RIGHT: 

College ANTHONY of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) 3.0 and must outline their reasons for choosing their 

web, making it possible for skilled experts at Mandeep Brar 

offers LUCENTE a range of scholarships, based on merit and need, 

remote 

to 

locations 

career 

to 

path. 

assess 

Others, 

the vehicles. 

like the Csonka and Sharpe scholarships, 

take into account the student’s ethnicity and 

Laura Bure 

a broad spectrum of promising students. A primary goal 

continues to be an increase in the number and diversity “The of guard background at the border in may addition not be to a requiring highly 

trained person,” says Natarajan. “But by Melissa Cinpinski 

Aaron Cahill 

outstanding academic 

scholarships for which students can apply. 

achievement. 

putting images on the internet, a remotely Ryan Daugherty 

Keshav Varde, associate dean of CECS and professor located of expert Different can check scholarships them for are something available depending Trevor Davey on class 

mechanical engineering, chairs the scholarship committee 

that recommends award recipients to the dean. 

suspicious. year. It also Incoming allows the freshmen border guard are eligible to for Sam the Farhat Ford, Patton, 

stay 

He 

safely away 

and National 

from the 

Science 

vehicle.” 

Foundation scholarships, Joe Favazza while 

also plans, designs, and implements the Summer Bridge Once computer the DaimlerChrysler engineering students and Detroit work Edison Alexander scholarships Fisher are 

Program in math for students who are awarded certain on the robot awarded next year, only it will to juniors be able or to seniors. compare 

manufacturer vehicle underbody images Nader Hachem 

Joseph Frank 

LEFT AND BELOW: 

minority scholarships or funds. THE 2005 IGVC 

with what it “Scholarships is actually looking are important,” at to check says Sengupta, Jonathan “because Hyland 

“Scholarships don’t just help students financially, though for anomalies. even “The as the applications costs of education for it are rise, education Andrew itself Jinks and 

that’s important,” says Varde. “They motivate students limitless,” to says the services Natarajan. it provides become increasingly 

Colin 

necessary 

Kerwin 

to 

do well in college because they reward students for excellent 

academic work. They also help attract good students part of education costs are borne by students having to 

compete in the modern world. In our culture, a significant 

Four other seniors developed an automated Adam Kibit 

factory system that involved a 10-by-4-foot Michael Kinnell 

and a diverse group of students who might not otherwise 

prototypical 

work. 

factory 

This 

with 

delays 

two 

graduation, 

robots. Trevor 

creates disruption in their 

Krystle Laja 

be able to pursue engineering or computer science Davey, programs. 

That ultimately translates to benefit to the com- 

Scott Piper from built time automated that could robots better that be spent learning. While some 

Chandresh being able Patel, to Alex continue Beard, their and education, and takes away 

Benjamin Liem 

Anthony Lucente 

munity in a more varied and talented workforce that picked has up shipments, of these jobs moved can lead them to to good the experience, the primary 

Neda Mahram 

been educated at a good institution.” 

desired location, focus and for students unloaded should them. be The attaining an education. 

Swapna Makam 

robots recognized Scholarships different allow types students of shipments 

says 

Ken Malkowski 

to do that.” 

“We offer both merit- and need-based scholarships,” and placed them accordingly either 

Dean Sengupta. “Merit scholarships allow us to bring into in storage or onto an assembly line. 

Ross Martin 

exceptional students who raise the level of our classes 

Aghapi Mordovanaki 

“Potential applications for this product could 

and contribute to the education of all students. Needbased 

Antoine Mordovanaki 

be found in any factory or business that will receive shipments,” says Davey. “Other applications 

of the system 

scholarships 

might 

clearly 

be used 

bring 

in hospitals 

in students 

to deliver 

who would 

Elie Mordovanaki 

food to patients, or to perform routine chores, 

possibly not otherwise even to be control able to automobiles.” 

attend our institution.” 

Christopher Musser 

Chandresh Patel 

Scott Piper 

Donika Resyli 

Tyra Sampson 

Brian Schaar 

Adam Shomsky 

Jason Smith 

Ian Spencer 

Jowan Taymour 

Blaine Thompson 

Vince Tylutki 

Vin Varghese 

Oliver Veridiano 

Sirithaval Voracharoen 

Magdi Warra 

David Wrosch 

Bi Ying 

Heather Young 

19


2005 Annual 

Alumni Awards 

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR 

ANGELO DIMITRIOU 

’65 Engineering and Computer Science 

Angelo Dimitriou, as vice president, engineering 

technology, electronic systems at Smiths Aerospace, has 

worldwide responsibility for the company’s advanced 

technology, common design modules, processes and tools, 

and information technology systems. His accomplishments 

include leading the team that developed the core computing 

system for the Boeing 787 and a vehicle management 

system for Northrop Grumman’s unmanned combat 

air vehicle. While vice president of engineering and 

development programs at Michigan, New Jersey, and 

KEILA WALTON 

Florida sites, Dimitriou was ONE in charge ASPECT of OF developing 

THE PLANNED ENGINEERING LABORATORY BUILDING ADDITION 

’85 Engineering and Computer Science 

the flight management system for Air Force One. He 

is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics 

Engineers, an advisory board member and frequent 

speaker at Aviation Week’s Aerospace and Defense 

Programs and Productivity Conference, and a 

regular lecturer at Smiths Aerospace Systems 

Leadership Development Forum. He also served as 

an Engineering Advisory Council member at Grand 

Valley State University during its accreditation process. 

ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD 

TERESA L. SHIPP 

’88, ’92 Engineering and Computer Science 

Teresa Shipp was a member of the original engineering 

Alumni Affiliate and served as its secretary for several 

years. As an officer and leader for the board and what 

later became the engineering and computer science 

Alumni Affiliate, Shipp helped develop and implement 

a variety of programs that reconnected alumni to their 

university. An active and long-term member of the Alumni 

THE 2005 ANNUAL ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS, INCLUDING (FRONT ROW) KEILA WALTON 

(THIRD), TERESA L. SHIPP (FOURTH), AND ANGELO DIMITRIOU (SIXTH) 

Alumni, Companies, 

and Partners 

Key to Success 

Society, Shipp participated in the Alumni Merit Scholarship 

interviews program and participated in football tailgates, 

awards luncheons, Career Nights, and Alumni Days. Shipp 

is a member of the Professional Women’s Network within 

Ford Motor Company, where she works as a recall 

campaign prevention specialist. In this position, she 

guides control system and hardware engineers in failure 

mode effects analyses and design verification plans. 

Shipp is also a member of the Society of Women Engineers 

and the Society of Automotive Engineers. 

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR 

AFRICAN AMERICAN ALUMNI AFFILIATE 

Keila Walton has been chief information officer at 

General Motors since 2000, with overall responsibility for 

the internal IT infrastructure and external IT support of 

contractual joint training initiatives. She has worked for 

GM since 1982 in various engineering and human 

resources positions, and has served on the GM-UAW 

National Negotiations team. Walton developed and 

now manages the community relations and philanthropic 

activity section at GM. She has served UM-Dearborn 

as a Career Day speaker and college recruiter. Walton 

is a member of the NAACP, the Alpha Kappa Alpha 

Sorority, the IEEE Computer Society, the Detroit 

chapter of the Society for Information Management, 

and the University of Michigan Alumni Association. 

She has received both the Black Engineer of the 

Year and the Women of Color in Technology awards. 

Walton has been featured in numerous publications 

and has appeared on the nationally syndicated 

television program “Success for Education.” 

SAVE THE DATE 

CECS Annual Alumni Reception 

April 5, 2006, 4:30 p.m–7:30 p.m 

Hotel Pontchartrain, Detroit, Michigan 

20


Brick Program Donors 

$5,000 LEVEL 

Syed Murtuza 

Richard Schaum 

Subrata Sengupta 

Malayappan Shridhar 

$1,000 LEVEL 

Richard Anderson 

Labib F. Cheaito 

John Cole (2) 

Angelo Dimitriou 

Dennis James Kirchoff 

Robert Lust 

Ron Modreski 

Gregory Pochmara 

Brian G. Stewart 

Keshav and Lata Varde 

Craig A. Whitt 

$500 LEVEL 

Diane L. McAskin 

Blankenship 

Robert D. Blankenship 

James Castelvetere 

John Justin Correia 

Virgil W. Davis, Jr. 

Gregory C. Garcia 

Jeanne Girard 

Norman M. Haygood, Jr. 

Robert W. Hildebrand 

Richard M. McMahon 

Karen G. Pastula and 

Charles J. Dubauskas 

Phil Roussey 

Manoj Thomas 

$250 LEVEL 

Roger P. Allwin 

David H. Bayer 

Mahmoud Hani Bdeir 

Sharon R. Cislo 

Romildo DeOliveira 

David Dettling 

Jack M. Dickert 

Julio Duronio 

Andrew J. Flowerday 

Jason T. Forton 

Florian Frischmuth 

James Grose 

William Grosky (3) 

John William Harvey 

Thomas J. Helinski 

Henry Hojnacki 

Shinji Horibe 

Yvette Kline 

Robert N. Kramer 

Donald Krcmarik 

Douglas Kroll 

Estate of Janet Kroll 

Phillip D. Lavender 

Robert Matsura 

William Brandon McCoy 

Bob McLure 

Abdul Lateef Muhiuddin 

Troy Mui 

Joan F. Osinski (2) 

Carl Osojnak 

John Pastula 

Kenneth K. Prochnau 

Sriman Ramabhadran 

Maxwell B. Sanborn 

Christina Sears(Alpha 

Omega Epsilon) 

David C. Swanson 

Maria Welborne 

Chris Westphal 

Alumni Update 

ROBERT JENSEN, 

’72 BSE-ME, ’75 MSE-ME, is executive director, electronics 

engineering, at Johnson Controls, Inc. in Holland, Michigan. 

MICHAEL NIEMIEC, 

’75 BSE-EE, is chief financial officer at Precision Parts 

International. He had been vice president of operations and 

strategic initiatives at TRW Automotive in Livonia, Michigan. 

SUSAN CISCHKE, 

’78 MSE-ME, ’83 PDED, vice president, environmental and 

safety engineering, at Ford Motor Company, is a member of 

the Women’s Leadership Forum board of directors. She has 

been named to the list of Corp! magazine’s Michigan’s Top 

Businesswomen. 

DONALD KRCMARIK, 

’81 BSE-EE, is director, OEM engineering, at XM Satellite 

Radio Inc. in Novi, Michigan. 

JOHN HIBBLER, 

’83 BSE-EE, ’89 MSE-EE, is director, manufacturing 

engineering released programs, at American Axle & 

Manufacturing in Detroit, Michigan. 

RICHARD DURANT, 

’98 BSE-EE, is a computer systems specialist at the 

University of Michigan-Dearborn. 

CORNELIA (BODEA) KELLEY, 

’98 BS-CIS, is an application developer at IBM in 

Chicago, Illinois. 

SANDRA STOLKOVSKI, 

’01 MSE-ISE, ’01 MBA, is director, business development, 

at Ricardo Inc. in Van Buren Township. She had been 

program attribute team leader, vehicle engineering, at 

Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan. 

DANIEL J. CONNELL, 

’83 BSE-EE, is a senior engineer at John Deere in Waterloo, Iowa.

International Leadership 

Institute in Operations 

and Technology 

The University of Michigan-Dearborn’s International 

Leadership Institute in Operations and Technology offers a 

unique curriculum for international enterprise and government 

leaders who want to acquire professional expertise in western 

leadership practices. Customized courses in areas such as 

technology, engineering, management, operations, 

organizational learning, entrepreneurship, finance, 

human resources, political science, etc., are available to 

program participants. 

Experiential in design, the program provides depth and breadth 

in course topics by integrating instruction with simulations, 

teamwork opportunities, and classroom discussions. At the 

conclusion of the program participants complete a capstone 

project that corresponds to a professional area of interest. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT 

University of Michigan-Dearborn – Engineering Professional Development 

Attn: Theresa Ceccarelli, Ph.D. 

Telephone: (313) 593-4000 • Fax: (313) 593-4070 

Email: tceccare@umich.edu • Website: http://epd.umd.umich.edu 

Keep in touch 

What have you been doing since graduation? Share 

your news by using the form online to let us know 

about your professional and personal successes. 

News is posted in the Dearborn Engineer. 

Visit www.engin.umd.umich.edu/alumni 

The University of Michigan-Dearborn 

College of Engineering and Computer Science 

4901 Evergreen Road 

Dearborn, Michigan 48128–1491 

(313) 593-5290 

Nonprofit Org. 

U.S. Postage 

PAID 

Permit No. 684 

Dearborn, MI 

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

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