CV - Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - University at Buffalo

Biographical Sketch
RAHUL RAI
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
rahulrai@buffalo.edu
244 Bell Hall, University at Buffalo-SUNY http://dart.eng.buffalo.edu/
Buffalo, NY, 14260 Voice/Fax: (716) 645-1451/645-2883
PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
National Institute of Technology, Ranchi, (NIFFT), India Manufacturing Engg. B.Tech 2000
University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO Manufacturing Engg. M.S. 2002
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX Mechanical Engg. Ph.D. 2006
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Multimodal Natural Interfaces for Conceptual CAD, Digital Additive Manufacturing, Machine
Learning in Computational Shape Synthesis, Design Informatics, Uncertainty Quantification in
Complex System Design, Design Optimization, Adaptive Design of Experiments (DOE) and Metamodeling,
Resilient System Design.
APPOINTMENTS
6/12– Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University
at Buffalo-SUNY, NY
5/11-6/12 Staff Research Scientist, United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), Berkeley, CA
5/08–8/11 Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, California State University, Fresno, CA
10/10-5/11 Staff Research Scientist and PI, MCT@NASA AMES Research Center, Mountain
View, CA
10/10-5/11 Visiting Research Scientist, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC, XEROX), Palo Alto,
CA
8/07–5/08 Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering, California State University, Fresno, CA
8/06–8/07 Postdoctoral Fellow, NSF center for e-Design, Virginia Tech, VA
8/02–8/06 Graduate Research Assistant, Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at
Austin, TX
6/00–8/02 Graduate Research Assistant, Manufacturing Engineering, University of
Missouri-Rolla, MO
FUNDED PROJECTS
University at Buffalo-SUNY (Total $ 514,972)
• NSF CMMI System Science–1301235: Uncertainty Propagation Methods for Networked
Complex Systems/NSF/System Science. Start Date: August 2013 (Role PI, $ 410,643).
• NSF CMMI EDI–1215650: Collaborative Research: Knowledge Representation and Design
for Managing Product Obsolescence. Funded by Engineering Design and Innovation/NSF/EDI.
Start Date: November 2011 (Role PI, $ 44,329).
• NYSP2I –63206: Intelligent Decision Enabled Application (IDEA) for Energy Efficient Additive
Manufacturing. Start Date: January 2013 (Role PI, $ 30,000).
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• NYSP2I –63615: Data Driven Optimization of Buffalo Wastewater Treatment Plans (WWTPs).
Start Date: February 2013 (Role PI, $ 30,000).
Completed (Before University at Buffalo-SUNY) (Total $ 1,551,772)
• NSF CMMI EDI–0928837: Collaborative Research: Knowledge Representation and Design
for Managing Product Obsolescence. Funded by Engineering Design and Innovation/NSF/EDI.
Start Date: August 2009 (Role PI, $ 101,772).
• DARPA (i-FAB, BAA-11-20): Reasoning about Manufacturability and Design Changes
via Graph-Grammar Based Search Funded by DARPA. Start Date: May 2011 (Role PI,
$400,000, Subcontracted to MCT@NASA AMES through PARC, Multi team proposal totaling
$2.3 Million Dollars with 4 PIs from various research centers and universities).
• DARPA (META-II, BAA-10-59): Formal Co-verification of Correctness of Large Scale
Cyber-Physical Systems during Design. Funded by DARPA. Start Date: October 2010 (Role
PI, $750,000, Subcontracted to MCT@NASA AMES through PARC, Multi team proposal
totaling $3.5 Million Dollars with 4 PIs from various research centers and universities).
• Niagara Bottling LLC: Computational Design Optimization of Water Bottle Packaging Systems.
Funded by Niagara Bottling LLC. Start Date: September 2010 (Role PI, $5,000,
Fresno State).
• Hewlett Packard (HP): Distributed Computational Design Environment (DiCoDE). Funded
by HP. Start Date: May 2009 (Role PI, $280,000, Fresno State).
• PELCO by Schneider Electric: Lean Manufacturing of Assembly Lines. Funded by PELCO.
Start Date: June 2008 (Role PI, $15,000, Fresno State).
TEACHING
At University at Buffalo-SUNY
• MAE 600 Machine Learning in Computational Shape Synthesis (Graduate, Fall 2013)
• MAE 376 Applied Mathematics for MAE (Undergraduate, Fall 2013)
• MAE 477/577 Computer Aided Design Applications (Undergraduate/Graduate, Spring 2013)
At California State University, Fresno (Fresno State)
• Advanced Engineering Mathematics (Graduate, Fall 2007)
• ME 32: Material Science Lab (Undergraduate, Fall 2007, Fall 2009)
• Engineering Product Design (Undergraduate, Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010)
• Design of Machine Elements (Undergraduate, Fall 2007, Fall 2008)
• Theory of Machines and Mechanisms (Undergraduate, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring
2010)
• Machine Design (Undergraduate, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010)
• Engineering Graphics (Undergraduate, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2012)
DEPARTMENTAL SERVICE
• Digital Additive Manufacturing Center (University at Buffalo-SUNY), Founding Faculty
Member
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• Undergraduate ABET Lab Committee, Design Area Representative
• Served on the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Design Faculty Search Committee
PROJECT, THESIS, DISSERTATION, AND POSTGRADUATE SCHOLAR ADVISOR
Total number of postdoctoral scholars sponsored: 2.
Total number of graduate students supervised: 4 Ph.D and 20 MS Students.
Total number of undergraduate students supervised: 4 BS Students.
Postdoctoral scholars supervised: Anoop Verma, Yunbo Zhang
Chair of Ph.D Dissertation Committee: Prakhar Jaiswal, Binbin Zhang, Arpan Mukherjee, Sarthak
Salunke.
Chair of MS Project/Thesis Committee: Ranjit Gopi (Summer 2013), Aditya Thakur (Spring 2014),
Sree Shanker Babu (Fall 2014), Nianteng Feng (Summer 2014), Ting-Ju Chen (Summer 2014),
Sulabh Gupta (Summer 2014), Akshay Deshpande (Summer 2014), Venkata Sai Eswar (Summer
2014), Zhongshan Shi (Summer 2014), Azhar Vellore (Summer 2014), Jun Wang (Summer 2014),
Chao Zhang (Summer 2014), Yan Zhang (Summer 2014), Anna Swechle (Summer 2014), Tyler
Morris (Fall 2014) Rohan Patil (MS, Spring 11, Fresno State), Ravi Kumar Vallepali (MS, Spring
10, Fresno State), Harbir Singh (MS, Spring 09, Fresno State), Anil Kumar (MS, Fall 08, Fresno
State), Hima Jyothsna (MS, Fall 08, Fresno State).
Member of Project/Thesis/Dissertation Committee: Yuvraj Ratan Naikavade (MS, Summer 2012),
Dipen Dave (MS Summer 2013), Aziz Michel Naim (Ph.D., Summer 2013), Sudhanshu Rathod
(MS, Summer 2013), Aditya Reddy Ashammagari (MS, Summer 2013).
Undergraduate Student Research Project Advisor: Richard Veihdeffer III (BS, Summer 2013),
Josh Ulrich (BS, Summer 2013), Carson Schaffer (BS, Fall 09, Fresno State), Richard Parks (BS,
Fall 10, Fresno State).
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Member of American Society for Engineering
Education (ASEE), Member of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Member of
American Association of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).
REVIEW AND RELATED ACTIVITIES
• Journal Reviewer: ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Research in Engineering Design,
Journal of Computer Aided Design (CAD), Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Design
(AIEADM), ASME Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering.
• Conference Organization Committee: Local Chair for ASME-IDETC 2014 Conference,
Secretary ASME-IDETC-CIE Conference.
• Conference Reviewer: ASME-International Design Engineering Technical Conference-
Design Automation Conference (DAC), Design Theory and Methodology Conference (DTM),
Design for Manufacturing and Life Cycle Conferences (DFMLC), International Conference
on Engineering Design (ICED), ASME IMECE.
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• Miscellaneous: Session Chair in ASME-Design Engineering Technical Conference-Design
Automation Conference (DAC), Design Theory and Methodology Conference (DTM), Design
for Manufacturing and Life Cycle Conference (DFMLC) 2007-2012, NSF CMMI Proposal
Panels.
AWARDS AND HONORS
• Pelco Summer Faculty Fellowship, Fresno State-2008-2011
• Grilione Faculty Fellowship, Fresno State-2008
• Best Undergraduate Honors Thesis, National Institute of Technology, Ranchi, (NIFFT) (Resulted
in Three Journal Publications).
GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL ADVISORS
Matthew I Campbell (Ph.D, The University of Texas at Austin), Venkat Allada (MS, Missouri
S&T), Janis Terpenny (Postdoctoral, Virginia Tech).
PUBLICATIONS
Journal publications at University at Buffalo-SUNY
J1 P. Jaiswal, S.S. Babu, and R. Rai (2013), Symbols in air: Novel representation and techniques,
in IEEE Transaction on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI) (submitted).
J2 S.S. Babu, and R. Rai (2013), Creating by imagining: Use of natural and intuitive BCI in 3D
CAD modeling, in Journal of Computer Aided Design (JCAD) (Accepted For Publication).
J3 B. Brown, T. Singh, and R. Rai (2013), Identifying true and exact pareto frontiers: A novel
jacobian matrix singularity based approach, In Optimization and Engineering (submitted).
J4 A. Verma and R. Rai (2013), Optimizing energy consumption of SLS manufactured parts, in
ASME-Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering (JOMS) (submitted).
Journal publications before University at Buffalo-SUNY
J5 M. Campbell, R. Rai, and T. Kurtoglu (2012), Stochastic interactive graph grammar search
for conceptual design, ASME Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering,
12 (3), pp.031006.
J6 X. Chang, R. Rai, and J. Terpenny (2010), Development and utilization of ontologies in
design for manufacturing, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, 132 (2), pp.021009.
J7 R. Rai, and M. Campbell (2008), Q2S2: A new methodology for merging quantitative and
qualitative information in experimental design, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, 130
(3), pp.031103.
J8 R. Rai, and J. Terpenny (2008), Principles for managing technological product obsolescence,
IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies, 31(4), pp. 880889.
J9 R. Rai, and V. Allada (2006), Agent-based optimization for product family design, Annals
of Operations Research, 143, pp. 147156.
J10 R. Rai, and V. Allada (2003), Agent-based Factor X model to study diffusion of eco-innovations,
International Journal of Agile Manufacturing, 6(1), pp. 1729.
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J11 R. Rai, and V. Allada (2003), Modular product family design: agent-based Pareto-optimization
and quality loss function-based post-optimal analysis, International Journal of Production
Research, 41(17), pp. 4075-4098.
J12 R. Rai, V. Rai, M.K. Tiwari, M.K. and V. Allada (2002), Disassembly sequence generation:
A petri-net based heuristic approach, International Journal of Production Research, 40(13),
pp. 3183-3198.
J13 U.M.B.S Sarma, Kant, S., R. Rai, and M.K. Tiwari (2002), Modeling the machine loading
problem of FMSs and its solution using a tabu-search based heuristic, International Journal
of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 40(5), pp. 1113-1129.
J14 R. Rai, S. Kameswaran, and M. K. Tiwari (2002), Machine-tool selection and operation
allocation in FMS: Solving a fuzzy goal programming model using genetic algorithm, International
Journal of Production Research, 40(3), pp. 641-665.
Peer reviewed conference publications at University at Buffalo-SUNY
C1 A. Verma, and R. Rai (2013), Energy efficient modeling and optimization of additive manufacturing
processes, Proceeding of the Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium, Austin, TX.
C2 R. Bhat, A. Deshpande, R. Rai, and E.T. Esfahani (2013), BCI-Touch based system, a multimodal
CAD interface for object manipulation, Proceedings of ASME IMECE, Sandiego,
CA, USA.
C3 A. Verma, and R. Rai (2013), Modeling multi operator-multi-UAV (MOMU) operator attention
allocation problem, Proceedings of ASME IMECE, Sandiego, CA, USA.
C4 A. Godre, A. Nikolaev and R. Rai (2013), An energy consumption rewards system to incentivize
environmentally conscious social behavior, Proceedings of ASME IMECE, Sandiego,
CA, USA.
C5 P. Jaiswal, A. Bajad, V.G. Nanjudaswamy, A. Verma, and R. Rai (2013), Creative exploration
of scaled product family 3D models using gesture based conceptual computer aided
design(C-CAD) tool, Proceedings of ASME International Design Engineering Technical
Conference ASME/DETC/CIE, Portland, OR, USA.
C6 S. Shanker, A. Verma, and R. Rai (2013), Creating by imaging: use of natural and intuitive
BCI in 3D CAD modeling, Proceedings of ASME International Design Engineering
Technical Conference ASME/DETC/CIE, Portland, OR, USA.
C7 V.G. Nanjudaswamy, A. Kulkarni, Z. Chen, P. Jaiswal, S. Shankar, A. Verma, and R. Rai
(2013), Creative exploration of scaled product family 3D models using gesture based conceptual
computer aided design(C-CAD) tool, Proceedings of ASME International Design
Engineering Technical Conference ASME/DETC/CIE, Portland, OR, USA.
C8 B. Brown, T. Singh, and R. Rai (2013), Pareto front identification via objective vector jacobian
matrix singularity, Proceedings of ASME International Design Engineering Technical
Conference ASME/DETC/CIE, Portland, OR, USA.
C9 M. Majji, and R. Rai (2013), Autonomous task assignment of multiple operators for human
robot interaction, American Control Conference (ACC), Washington, D.C.
C10 B. Brown, T. Singh, and R. Rai (2013), Jacobian matrix singularity based pareto front identification
for unconstrained multi-objective problems, American Control Conference (ACC),
Washington, D.C.
C11 S. B. Bopardikar, S.S. Nair, and R. Rai (2013), Sequential randomized matrix factorization
American Control Conference (ACC), Washington, D.C.
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C12 R. Rai (2012), Identifying key product attributes and their importance levels from online
customer reviews, Proceedings of ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference
ASME/DETC/CIE, Chicago, IL, USA.
Peer reviewed conference publications before University at Buffalo-SUNY
C13 R. Rai, P. Killaru,, R. Vallepalli, and M.I. Campbell (2011), A novel search algorithm for
interactive automated conceptual design generator (ACDG), ASME International Design
Engineering Technical Conference ASME/DETC/DAC, Washington D.C., USA.
C14 C. Schafaer, R. Parks, and R. Rai (2011), Design for emerging bottom of the pyramid markets:
A product service system (PSS) based approach, ASME International Design Engineering
Technical Conference ASME/DETC/DAC, Washington D.C., USA.
C15 R. Rai, Tekunoff, U., C. Schafaer, P. Sandborn and J. Terpenny (2010), Mitigating e-Waste:
A product service system (PSS) based design approach to create obsolescence resistant products,
ASME Intenational Design Engineering Technical Conference ASME/DETC/DAC,
Montreal, Canada.
C16 M.I. Campbell, R. Rai, and T. Kurtoglu (2009), A stochastic graph grammar algorithm for
interactive search, ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference
ASME/DETC/DAC, San Diego, CA, USA.
C17 R. Rai, and J. Terpenny (2007), Principles for managing product obsolescence, 16th International
Conference of Engineering Design (ICED), August 28-31, Paris, France.
C18 R. Rai, A. Sahin, and J. Terpenny (2007), Undergraduate learning experiences through
research in emerging areas of engineering design: Product platform planning and design
for managing product obsolescence, ASEE Conference, Hawaii, USA.
C19 R. Rai, and M.I. Campbell (2007), Q2S2: Merging qualitative information in sequential
DOE, Proceedings of ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference
ASME/DETC/CIE, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
C20 R. Rai, and M.I. Campbell (2006), Qualitative and quantitative sequential sampling, Proceedings
of ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference ASME/DETC/CIE,
Philadelphia, PA, USA.
C21 R. Rai, and M.I. Campbell (2004), Extracting product performance by embedding sensors
in SFF prototypes, Proceeding of the Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium, Austin, TX.
Pp. 366 376
C22 R. Rai, and M.I. Campbell (2003), Computational design synthesis: A generalization of
methods in engineering design, In Proceedings of AAAI symposium, March 21-24, Stanford,
CA, USA.
C23 R. Rai, and V. Allada (2002), Adaptive-agent based simulation model to study diffusion of
eco-innovation strategies, Proceedings of ASME International Design Engineering Technical
Conference ASME/DETC/CIE, Montreal, Canada.
C24 V. Allada, and R. Rai (2002), Module based multiple product design, Proceedings of IIE
Annual Conference, Orlando, FL, USA.
C25 R. Rai, J. Liang, and V. Allada (2001), Sustainable product development: An artifact system
(AS) based Framework, Proceedings of International Conference on Engineering Design
(ICED-01), Glasgow, Scotland.
C26 R. Rai, S. Kameswaran, and M.K. Tiwari (1999), Solving an FMS design problem using
Genetic algorithm, Proceeding of International conference on operation management for
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global economy (POMS), New Delhi, India.
C27 S. Kameswaran, R. Rai, and M.K. Tiwari (1999), Solving the markovian decision problem
using genetic algorithm, Proceeding of International conference on operation management
for global economy (POMS), New Delhi, India.
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