PhD Comprehensive Exams and Defences

PhD Comprehensive Examination 

(Attendance is at the discretion of the supervisor and student who hold the exam)

JaeEun Shin - Wednesday, February 26, 2025 from  1:00 PM to 4:00PM E3 - 4117

Title: Studying Privacy Risks in Human-Robot Interactions:Toward Privacy-Safe Domestic Social Robots

Supervisors: Yue Hu / Leah Zhang-Kennedy

Ali Mohammadnejad - Tuesday, March 4, 2025 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM E3 - 4117

Title: Additive Manufacturing of Tungsten and TiAl alloys: Investigating Printability and Experimental and Modeling Analysis

Supervisor: Ehsan Toyserkani

Hossein Rajabzadeh - Friday, March 14, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM  online

Title: Efficient Learning in Foundation Models

Supervisor: Hyock Ju Kwon

Cheong Kenneth - Wednesday, April 2, 2025  from :9:00 AM to 12:00 PM EC4-1104 in person

Title: Kinematic Hardening Characterization and Springback Prediction of 6xxx-series Aluminum Alloys

Supervisor: Cliff Butcher

Jialin Wang - Thursday, April 3, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Online

Title: Riblet Design and Turbulence Modeling for Efficient Drag Reduction in Aviation

Supervisors: Fue-Sang Lien / Eugene Yee

Li-Hsin Chen - Wednesday, September 17, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM E5 - 3006

Title: Advancing Aircraft Icing Research: Integrating Experiments, Computational Modeling, and Machine Learning for Improved Prediction and Scaling

Supervisors: Fue-Sang Lien

Dogu  Ozyigit - Monday, April 14, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM EC4-1104 Hybrid

Title: Advanced Metal-Insulator-Metal Diodes for Terahertz Applications and Graphene FET Fabrication for Biosensing Applications

Supervisors: Mustafa Yavuz  / Michael Bajcsy

Connor Jacob MacRobbie -  Monday, April 14, 2025  from 11:00 AM to 2:00PM E5 - 3052 in-person

Title: Combustion of Lunar and Martian Regolith Simulant for Sustainable Space Infrastructure Development

Supervisors: John Wen / Jean-Pierre Hickey

Zohreh Mohammadi - Wednesday, April 23, 2025 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM in EC4-1104

Title: Characterizing and modelling the temperature-dependent nonlinear friction behaviour of unidirectional non-crimp fabrics to support the development of a high-fidelity macroscopic forming simulation model

Supervisor: John Montesano

Xing Xing - Thursday, April 24, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 4 PM  on-line

Title: A Smart Monitoring System for EV Motor Fault Diagnosis

Supervisors: William Melek  / Wilson Wang

Shiyuan Song - Tuesday, May 6, 2025  from  9:00 AM -12 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Forming Behavior of Laser Welded Advanced High Strength Steels

Supervisor: Elliot Biro

Shengfeng Xue - Monday, May 5, 2025 from 9:00 AM  - 12:00 PM online

Title: A Green Synthesis of Catalysts for Water Electrolysis and Fuel Cells

Supervisor: Xianguo L

Lanyu Li -  Friday,  June 6, 2025  from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM E5 - 3052

Title: An AOT-based Data Assimilation for Lagrangian Flow Field Reconstruction

Supervisor: Zhao Pan

Peyman Alimehr - Wednesday, June 11, 2025 from  9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Holistic Sustainability for LPBF - Tailored Productivity, Microstructure, and Mechanical Properties for Low-Alloy Ultra High Strength Steels

Supervisor: Mihaela Vlasea 

Ali  Rezaei  - Wednesday, June 18th, 9:30 AM -12:30 PM E5 - 2004

Title: Laser Powder Bed Fusion of High-Strength Aluminum Alloys: Printability, Microstructure Control, and Property Enhancement

Supervisor: Mihaela Vlasea 

Johann Barry Scheepers - Wednesday, July 30, 2025 from  9:00-12:00 2025 at EC4 - 1104  

Title: Machine Learning-Based Frameworks to Predict the Large-Strain Behavior and Failure of Metals

Supervisor: Kaan Inal

Dylan Dylan - Thursday, July 31, 2025  from  8:30  AM -11:30 AM at  EC4-1104 

Title: A new Machine Learning Framework for Thermo-Mechanical Modelling of Aluminum Alloys

Supervisor: Kaan Inal

Nipin  Lokanathan  - Thursday, August 7, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E5 - 3006

Title: Multi-scale modeling of flow and heat transfer in additively manufactured hierarchical design architectures

Supervisors: Jean-Pierre Hickey / Mihaela  Vlasea

Ali Waqas - Monday, August 11, from 9:00 AM  to 12:00 PM E5 - 3006

Title: Aerial Hyperspectral Imaging for Building Envelope Diagnostics and Energy Performance Modeling

Supervisor: Mohamad Araji 

Jihui Yan - Tuesday, August 12, 2025 from 9 AM to 12 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Fabrication of high entropy alloy coatings using electrospark deposition

Supervisors: Norman Zhou / Peng Peng

Haoran Zhang - Monday, September 8, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM online

Title: Ex-situ and In-situ Characterizations of Tantalum Alloy Bipolar Plates for Proton Exchange Membrane  Water Electrolysers and Fuel Cells

Supervisor: Xianguo Li

Baizhou  Zhang - Wednesday, September 10, 2025  from 2.30 PM to 5.30 PM at E5-3052

Title: Switching behavior device engineering for Neuromorphic Computing

Supervisors: Norman Zhou / Yimin Wu

Nazmul Hossain - Wednesday, September 17, 2025  from  2:00 PM to 5:00 PM E5 - 3006

Title: Moisture/water droplet based energy harvesting

Supervisors: Norman Zhou / Aiping Yu

Wei Wei - Wednesday, September 24, 2025  from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM E5 - 3006

Title: Synergistic conversion of alcohols to value-added products via anodic electrocatalysis

Supervisor: Yimin Wu

Jonathan Ly - Wednesday, October  22, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM ERC - 3012

Title: Atmospheric Pressure Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition of Metalcone Thin Films and Coating Applications 

SupervisorL Kevin Musselman

Maryam  Dialameh - Friday, November 14, 2025 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM Online

Title: Enhancing PTMC Segmentation During RFA Surgery

Supervisor: H. J. Kown

Junrong Zhang - Friday, November  14, 2025 from 2:30 PM - 5:30PM  E5 - 3052 

Title: On the Jets Induced by a Cavitation Bubble near perforated structures

Supervison: Zhao Pan

Berkay Yuksel - Wednesday, January 14, 2026 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E5 - 3052

Title: A Study on 7xxx Aluminum Hot Stamping: Forming, Aging and Application

Supervisor: Cliff Butcher

Nicholas Dow - MONDAY,  NOVEMBER 24, 2025 from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM online

Title: Characterization of Oxygen Availability in Post-Flashover Compartment Fires

Supervisor: Beth Weckman

Lyndon Tang - Monday, November 24, 2025 from 9:00 AM -12:00 pm EC4-1104

Title: A Latent Embedding Framework for Personalized User-Exoskeleton Motion Intention Coordination

Supervisor: Arash Arami

Chiasung Liu - Tuesday, November 25, 2025 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM Remote

Title: Adaptive and Model Predictive Path Tracking Control of Autonomous Vehicles

Supervisor: Baris Fidan

Ornel Jose Padilla Estrada - Tuesday, November 25, 2025 from 2:00 PM to 5:30 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Understanding graphene inception and growth by investigating early-stage particle formation

Supervisor: Kyle Daun / Christof Schulz

NEEL SANJAY AGARWAL - Monday, December 1, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E7 2343 

Title: The Role of Filler Wire Chemistry in High-Speed Laser Welding of Al-Si Coated 22MnB5 Steel Sheets

Supervisor: Norman Zhou / Adrian Gerlich

Thanacha  Choopojcharoen - Tuesday, December 2, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM E3 - 4117

Title: Collaborative Estimation, Coordination, and Control of Autonomous Multi-Vehicle Systems via Distributed Optimization

Supervisor: Baris Fidan

Jeswin  Joseph  - Wednesday, December 3, 2025 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM E3 - 4117

Title: A multi-fidelity predictive tool for aerothermal assessment of hypersonic vehicles

Supervisor: Jean-Pierre Hickey

Alan Woo - Thursday, December 4, 2025 9:30 AM-12:30 PM E5 - 3006

Title: Characterization of Feedstock Powder and Fatigue Behavior of AA6061 Cold Spray Additive Re-Manufactured Structural Components

Supervisor: Hamid Jahed Motlagh 

Mahdi Hasanzadeh Azar  - Thursday,  December  4, 2025 from  9:00 AM to 12:00 PM ERC - 3012

Title: Performance Enhancement of Perovskite Thin Film and Quantum Dot Solar Cells and Photodetectors via Femtosecond Laser Ablation Processing

Supervisor: Kevin Musselman 

Arpan Raj Singh -  Friday, December 5, 2025 from 8:30 AM -11:30 AM E5 - 3052

Title: Improvements in Processing Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer Data for Detecting and Quantifying  Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Oil and Gas Sector

Supervisor: Kyle Daun

Mu-An Tsai - Friday , December 5, 2025, from1:00 PM - 4:00 PM 

Title: Applications of Ground-based Hyperspectral Imaging for Emissions Monitoring from Diffused Methane Sources

Supervisor: Kyle Daun

Ehsan Tahvilian - Friday, January 30, 2026 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Human Motor Optimality for Lowerlimb Exoskeleton Control: A Personalized Approach to Gait Rehabilitation

Supervisor: Arash Arami


PhD Defense


Kaiping Zhang - Thursday, February 27, 2025 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM E3-4117 in person

Title: Microstructure control and property enhancement of  NiTi-stainless steel dissimilar joint

Supervisors: Peng Peng / Norman Zhou


Manyou Sun - Tuesday, March 11, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM  E5 - 3052 Hybrid

Title: Development of Novel Surface Finishing Processes for Additively Manufactured Metal Parts

Supervisor: Ehsan Toyserkani


Fatima Suleiman - Friday, April 4, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E5-2004 Hybrid

Title: Improving Pyrometry of Advanced High Strength Steels during Intercritical Annealing 

Supervisor: Kyle Daun


Nadia Azizi - Monday, April 7, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Online

Title: Laser powder bed fusion of copper alloys: From process parameter optimization to oxidation analysis  

Supervisor: Ehsan Toyserkani


Sahar Toorandaz Kenari - Thursday, April 10, 2025 from 9 AM to 12:00 PM  E5 - 3052 Hybrid

Title: Novel Machine Learning-Driven Platforms for In-Situ Prediction of Vertical and Top Surface Roughness in Laser Powder-Bed Fusion

Supervisor: Ehsan Toyserkani


Maziar ShafieiDarabi  - Thursday, April 10, 2025 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM online

Title: Development of Microwave-Microfluidic Sensors for Plastic Detection in Environmental Samples

Supervisor: Carolyn Ren


Zuolong Chen - Friday, April 18, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Online

Title: Model Materials and Reactor Systems for Artificial Leaves in Solar Energy Conversion Applications

Supervisor: Yimin Wu

Sante DiCecco - Tuesday, April 22, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM EC4 - 1104 Hybrid

Title: Elevated Temperature Formability of Precipitation Hardenable Sheet Aluminum Alloy

Supervisors: Mike Worswick / Cliff Butcher

Shima  Akbarian  - Wednesday, April 30, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM  E5 - 3052  in person

Title: Advance Laser Weld Brazing of Zinc-Coated Automotive Steels: Process Optimization of AI-Enhanced Inspection, Tailored Intermetallic Formation, and the Evolution of Mechanical Behaviour

Supervisor: Elliot Biro

Ahmed Saieed - Thursday, May 1, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E5 - 3052  Hybrid

Title: Kinematic and Thermodynamic Effects on Particle Clustering in Turbulent Flows

Supervisor:  Jean-Pierre Hickey

Matheus Correia -  Thursday, June 19, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM EC4 - 1104 in person

Title: Investigation of Neck Posture and Muscle Activity on Cervical Spine Impact Kinematics Using a Finite Element Human Body Model

Supervisors: Duane Cronin / Stewart McLachlin

Niloofar Eftekhari - Friday June 20, 2025 from  9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E5 -3052 

Title: Effect of Feedstock Powder, Processing Parameters, and Post-Heat Treatment on Additively Manufactured Low-Pressure Cold-Spray Cu Alloys: Development of Heterogeneous material for Enhanced Strength and Ductility

Supervisor: Hamid Jahed

Connor Toppings - Monday, July 21, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM ERC - 3012

Title: Boundary Layer Transition on Airfoils and Wings in Unsteady Low-Reynolds Number Flows

Supervisor: Serhiy Yarusevych

Youchao Teng - Wednesday, July 23, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM  QNC 5402 (confidential)

Title: Programmable Gelatin Hydrogels via Ionic Modulation and Structural Design for Mechanical Properties, and Tissue Regeneration

Supervisors: Yimin Wu / Michael Tam

Ahmet Gulsaran - Monday, July 28, 2025 from 11:15 AM to 2:15 PM E5-2004 

Title: Miniaturized Sensors: Effects, Packaging, and Interface

Supervisors: Mustafa Yavuz / Eihab Abdel-Rahman

Mazin Oheil Khalati  - Monday, July 28, 2025 from  9:00 AM - 12:00 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Cold Spray Assisted Mg/Al Dissimilar Resistance Spot Welds

Supervisors: Hamid Jahed /Adrian Gerlich

Mohammad  Munshed  - Wednesday, August 6, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM E5 - 2004

Title: A New Human and Ecological Stochastic Air Toxics Risk Assessment Methodology for Mobile Sources

Supervisors: Roydon Fraser / Jesse The

Victor Shi - Thursday, August 7, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM EC4-1104

Title: Deep Learning -Assisted Digital Image Techniques for In-situ Damage Characterization of Non-crimp Fabric Reinforced Reactive Thermoplastic Composites

Supervisor: John Montesano 

Pranav Nath - Friday , August 8, 2025 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM E5 - 3006

Title: One-Dimensional Turbulence: From Extreme Reynolds Number Turbulence to Hypersonic Turbulent Boundary Layers

Supervisor: Jean-Pierre Hickey

Bersu Bastug Azer - Monday, August 11, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Defect Engineering of Titanium Dioxide Nanostructures: From Fundamentals to Applications

Supervisors: Mustafa Yavuz / Michael Pope

Qiaoyun Chen  - Thursday, August 14, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E5 - 3052 Hybrid

Title: Interface engineering and additive engineering toward high-performance perovskite solar cells

Supervisors: Kevin Musselman / Bo Song

Yang Wang  - Wednesday, September 3, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM On-line

Title: Virtual Platform Design and Implementation for Magnetic Levitation Actuator Digital Twin With AI-Based Modeling and Control

Supervisor: Behrad Khamesee

Arvin Hosseinzadeh - Friday, September 5, 2025 from 10:30 AM-1:30 PM - Online

Title: An Optimal Knowledge Retention Framework for Continual Learning in Data Stream Scenarios

Supervisors: Amir Khajepour / Shojaeddin Chenouri

Mohammadreza Ghorbani  - Monday, September 8, 2025 1:30 PM-4:30 PM On-line

Title: Fault Diagnosis and Reliability-Based Topology Selection in Vehicle State Estimation Systems

Supervisor: Amir Khajepour

Ali Zardoshtian - Thursday, September 11, 2025  from 12:00  PM to 3:00 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Functionally graded additive manufacturing of Inconel625 and CuCrZr alloys

Supervisors: Ehsan Toyserkani / Hamid Jahed

Farid Mafi Shourestani - Thursday, September 11, 2025 from 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM  On-line

Title: Computationally Efficient Multi-Model Adaptive Control and Estimation for Uncertain Systems

Supervissor: Amir Khajepour

Keith  Calder - Wednesday, September 17, 2025 from  10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Online

Title: A Novel Framework for Performance-Based Fire Safety in the National Building Code of Canada

Supervisor: Beth Weckman

Taha Waqar: Wednesday, November 19, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM E7-7363 

Title: Design of high strength aluminum alloys for directed energy deposition additive manufacturing

Supervisor: Michael Benoit

Stephen Robinson-Enebeli - Wednesday, November 26, 2025 from 11: 00 AM to 2:00 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Investigating the origins of observed data-model discrepancies during time-resolved laser-induced incandescence

Supervisors: Kyle Daun / Christof Schulz

Advaith Advaith Narayanan - Thursday, December 11th, 2025  from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM EC4 - 1104

Title: On the Influence of Boundary Condition on the Sheared Edge Fracture Limits of a 3rd Generation Advanced High Strength Ste

Supervisor: Cliff Butcher

Maryam  Soleimani  - Thursday, December 11, 2025 from 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM Remote

Title: Short-Pulsed Laser processing of Metal-Oxide Nanomaterials: Role of Defects in Properties, Nanojoining, and Sintering

Supervisors: Peng Peng / Norman Zhou

Renan Portela - Friday, December 12, 2025 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Effects of Stabilizing Binder on the Formability, Microstructure, and Mechanical Performance of Wet Compression Molded Unidirectional Non-Crimp Fabric Composites

Supervisors: John Montesano / Alfredo Rocha de Faria

Joel Pennings - Friday, January 23, 2026 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Tailoring Native and Transition Metal Catalytic Sites in Graphitic Carbon Nitride for Sustainable Material Design

Supervisors: Mustafa Yavuz /Michael Pope

JiUng Kim - Friday, January 16, 2026 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM E5 - 3052

Title: Determination of Liquid Metal Embrittlement Crack Propagation Kinetics  During Resistance Spot Using In-Situ Monitoring

Supervisor: Elliot Biro