Recent Graduates | Intelligent Measurements and Evaluation Laboratory | SIU

Stephanie Venis 
Degree: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2017
LinkedIn: Stephanie Venis
http://www.testek.com/?home

Stephanie received her BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and was minoring in Mathematics and Biological Sciences. She was the President of the Illinois Epsilon chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the Vice President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Treasurer of Engineering Student Council, and was very involved in her sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta. In 2013, she was a recipient of the Chancellor’s Scholarship at SIU. She began working in Dr. Chu’s lab as a freshman through the Research Rookies program doing research in Biomedical Engineering. She was later supported by the undergraduate research assistantship to conduct research in the field of Nondestructive Evaluation and biomedical engineering. She received the college of Engineering Outstanding Senior award early this year. She is now a graduate student with full scholarship to study biomedical engineering at Purdue University.

Runyu Zhang
Degree: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2017
LinkedIn: Runyu Zhang

My name is Runyu Peter Zhang. I started working in IMEL for Dr. Chu from 2015 to 2017, as an undergraduate research assistant. This experience has been tremendous for me, during which time I start to learn how to conduct research. Also other members from IMEL taught me a lot, especially Dr. Chu. With their help, I was honored to be awarded 2016 ASNT Engineering Undergraduate Scholarship. Right now I am a Ph.D. student at University of California, Riverside. It is with IMEL, Dr. Chu and my knowledgeable labmates’ help, I am able to do the research that I am devoted to. Great thanks to them!

Mahshad Mosayebi
Degree: M.S. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2017
LinkedIn:  Mahshad Mosayebi 

Mahshad Mosayebi completed her Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering at SIU. She did her Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in Iran and joined IMEL in the summer of 2016. Now she worked under the supervision of Dr. Chu on optical methods of nondestructive evaluation. In her research, she uses different laser speckle pattern techniques to incorporate DIC images. She is currently working for Santec at Torrance, California.

Foad Karimian
Degree: M.S. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2017
LinkedIn: Foad Karimian

Ryan Spencer
Degree: M.S. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2017
LinkedIn:  Ryan Spencer

Ryan Spencer received his Master’s degree at SIU studying Mechanical Engineering this year. In 2013, Dr. Chu hired Ryan as an Undergraduate Research Assistant at IMEL. Since then, Ryan has conducted research and worked on projects in Nondesctructive Evaluation. These projects include evaluating adhesive bonds and composite components for aerospace applications using multiple methods such as ultrasonics, infrared thermography, and digital image correlation. Ryan’s research focuses on using an ultrasonic technique to evaluate porosity within carbon composite components.

Outside of his research with IMEL, Ryan was active with the SIU Moonbuggy design team, a student organization that competes in the annual NASA Rover Challenge. In 2013, Ryan was the President of the SIU Moonbuggy Design Team. As President, Ryan worked directly with Dr. Chu, the team's faculty advisor, and led the team to a successful 2nd and 3rd place finish. Ryan also serveed as the President of the SIU NDE student organization, which aims to increase interest and understanding of NDE in the community. Ryan is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree at University of Tennessee in Knoxville and conducting research at Oakridge National Laboratory.

Samuel Oltman
Degree: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2016
LinkedIn: Samuel Oltman

Samuel Oltman worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant with IMEL from 2012-2014. As freshman he was funded by the Research Rookies Program, and then was funded by the Saluki Scholars Research Opportunity the following year. During his time he worked on projects such as Non-Destructive Evaluation of Aerospace Composites, and presented a poster on this topic. Since leaving IMEL, Sam has enrolled as a Master’s student at Florida Institute of Technology studying Mechanical Engineering. 

Kelby Rogers
Degree: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2016
LinkedIn: Kelby Rogers

Kelby Rogers worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant with IMEL from Spring 2015 until she graduated in May of 2016. She was funded through Research-Enriched Academic Challenge ( REACH) at SIU. Through this program, she was able to research the Optimal Speckle Pattern for Adhesive Joints Using Ultrasonic Digital Image Correlation and present a poster on this topic. Kelby is now working at Naval Sea Systems Command ( NAVSEA) in Indiana. 

Kathleen Wendell
Degree: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2016
LinkedIn:  Kathleen Wendell

Kathleen Wendell was an Undergraduate Research Assistant hired by Dr. Chu in August 2015, and she worked with IMEL until she graduated in May 2016. While here, she worked in collaboration with Anish Poudel to research a possible project with Transportation Technology Center, Inc. on Rail Neutral Temperature (RNT) Measurement.  

Caleb McGee
Degree: M.S. in Mechanical Engineering 8/2015
LinkedIn:  Caleb McGee

Caleb McGee worked with IMEL from Spring 2010 until Fall 2015.  He began work with IMEL as a freshman pursuing his Bachelor’s degree after serving as the President of SIU's Moonbuggy team (which Dr. Chu advises) and continued onto his Master’s. In fulfillment of this degree, Caleb submitted a thesis entitled “Numerical Evaluation of Adhesive Joints in Composite Structures using FEA.” Beyond this, Caleb researched Impact Damage Detection in CFRP Laminates with Ultrasonic NDE and NDE of Aged CFRP Panels using Infrared Thermography. Caleb also did some research in biomedical engineering with his work on a dual core biopsy needle. Caleb is now working with Navel Sea Command ( NAVSEA) in Indiana. 

Anish Poudel 
Degree: Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2015
LinkedIn: Anish Poudel 

Anish Poudel worked with IMEL as Lab Supervisor from August 2009 until July 2015 after graduating with his Ph. D. His dissertation associated with this degree was entitled “Bond Strength Evaluation in Composite Adhesive Joints Using Acoustography and Digital Image Correlation Methods.” His time with IMEL was nowhere near limited to this research. His additional projects include:

• Several projects that were aimed at developing effective non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques for commercial Carbon/Carbon composite aircraft brake disks by using air-coupled ultrasonic and infrared thermography methods
• Prediction of bond strength in composite joints by using hybrid NDE and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) methods (ongoing effort with the Boeing Company)
• Non-destructive characterization of kissing bonds in adhesive joints (NAVY STTR project in which there was collaboration with Dr. Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, President, Santec Systems, Inc.)
• NDE of composite repairs (Collaboration with Keven Mitchell, Prof. Aviation Technologies, SIUC and Sandia National Laboratories)
• Intelligent NDE expert system for carbon based composites used for aircraft and aerospace applications (Funded by Boeing Company)
• Automated circular air-coupled ultrasonic approach for Carbon/Carbon aircraft brake applications

Since leaving SIU, Anish has begun working with Transportation Technology Center, Inc. in Colorado as a Principle Investigator.  Anish contributed a great deal to our lab in terms of organization, collaboration with outside sources, and publications. 

Shashi Shrestha
Degree: M.S. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2015
LinkedIn: Shashi Shrestha

Shashi Shrestha worked with IMEL from Summer 2014 until Spring 2015 when he graduated with his Master’s degree. His thesis for this degree was entitled “Evaluation of Composite Adhesive Bonds Using Digital Image Correlation.” While here, he also worked on comparison and analysis of acoustography with other NDE techniques for foreign object inclusion detection in graphite epoxy composites. Shashi now works as a project engineer at Testek, and has been able to implement much of the technical and theoretical knowledge that he obtained in his time at SIU. He attributes part of his success in the field of aerospace engineering to his time with IMEL, and has shared that he finds himself "very lucky to be a part of IMEL and SIUC."

Shant Alexanian
Degree: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering 5/2015
LinkedIn: Shant Alexanian

Shant Alexanian worked with IMEL as an Undergraduate Research Assistant hired by Dr. Chu in August 2014 until he graduated in May 2015. While working here, he researched NDE of Adhesively Bonded CFRP-Aluminum Lap Joints using Acoustography and presented a poster on this topic. Shant now works as a Project Engineer at ITW-Deltar Fuel Systems while pursuing his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University.