M.S. in Mechanical Engineering - Alumnus

Why did you choose graduate school at IUPUI?

I completed my Bachelor’s degree here at IUPUI with Energy Engineering, so experiencing first-hand how intensive and thorough the education that the IUPUI Engineering department provides also drove me to pursue my graduate degree here. In addition, IUPUI established the Industrial Assessment Center, a program that is sponsored by US Department of Energy. At the IAC, we conduct energy audits for manufacturing companies, which provides a great learning environment and hands on experience for students. IUPUI is one of the 24 different universities in the nation that carry the IAC program. Finally, working with Dr. Jie Chen, Dr. Ali Razban and Dr. David Goodman during my undergraduate studies encouraged me to apply to graduate school and stay at IUPUI knowing that they would be my advisors.

What has been your favorite academic accomplishment since you’ve been here?

Now that I have been at IUPUI for five years, I have worked on many interesting and great projects that I am proud of. However, I think my favorite accomplishment would be winning the Elite 50 Award.

What do you enjoy most about life in Indianapolis?

The first aspect of Indianapolis that resonated with me was that it immediately felt like home. Moving from Abu Dhabi at the age of 17 was a big step in my life. Here in Indy, I met great people and made amazing friendships. I will always think of it as a second home.

Please provide some details about your work/research as a graduate student and/or any activities you are involved in.

I am currently the lead engineer of the Industrial Assessment Center. My job is to oversee all the assessment projects and monitor the progress, collect issues from audits and report to the directors, conduct energy assessments, work on center related projects, and interview and train newly hired engineers.

Additionally, my thesis is focused on industrial air compressors. The research includes improving efficiency and optimizing operation.

Through an undergraduate project, I had the opportunity to work with a team of engineers for the Indianapolis City County Building to try to achieve its environmentally-friendly status. Thanks to this, I also had the honor of becoming an accredited associate of the international Leadership in Energy Environmental Design (LEED), which is an organization dedicated to developing green buildings.