Name: Phillip Gavino
Education: M.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, May 2025.
Bio: Phillip was an undergraduate student who started working with SiDi Lab in the spring semester of 2022 while studying abroad. Along with his Mechanical Engineering degree, he is also pursuing the Elements of Computing and Computational Science and Engineering certificates. Later, Phillip joined the non-thesis MS program in ME at UT and continued assisting with data crawling, processing, and visualization for the design of market systems. He was well-trained on statistical Modeling, product Design, optimization, and customer choice analysis in the SiDi Lab.
Current employment: Mechanical Engineer at TDK.
Name: Yinshaung Xiao 
Education: Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, August 2024.
Bio: Yinshuang was a Ph.D. student in the SiDi Lab at UT Austin from 2021 to 2024. She also received one year of postdoctoral training in the lab from 2024 to August 2025. Yinshuang’s dissertation research is focused on Socio-Technical Systems Engineering and Design. Her dissertation can be downloaded here: “Socio-Technical Systems Engineering and Design: A Meso-Level Network-Based Approach.” Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, she was working as an R&D Engineer for new energy vehicles at SAIC Volkswagen in Shanghai. Yinshuang has extensive research experience in computational design, network science, machine learning, and data-driven modeling.
Current employment: Assistant Professor, The Department of Systems Engineering, Colorado State University.
Name: Basel Jazzar 
Education: Ph.D. Student, Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Fall 2024.
Bio: Basel was a Ph.D. student in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in Fall 2024. Before joining the SiDi Lab, Basel worked on offshore wind energy, focusing on physically emulating wind turbine conditions in a wind tunnel. In addition to research, Basel has experience in automotive test engineering at Tesla and Honda and aims to bridge the gap between the automotive industry and swarm manufacturing.
Current employment: Test Engineer at Tesla.
Name: Tyler Cronin 
Education: M.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, May 2024.
Bio: Tyler was an MS student in the SiDi Lab at UT Austin from 2022 to 2024. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Dr. Ana Schauer‘s group at UT Austin. His research was focused on motion tracking in mobile robot-enabled manufacturing environments. His MS thesis can be downloaded here: “Optical Motion Tracking Integration in Mobile Robot-Enabled Manufacturing.” Tyler had built strong skills in additive manufacturing, product design and development, robotics, and optimization.
Current employment: Software Engineer at Emerson.
Name: Elisa Koolman 
Education: M.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, August 2024.
Bio: Elisa was a Ph.D. student in SiDi Lab at UT Austin from 2022-2024, co-advised by Dr. Maura Borrego from the Center for Engineering Education. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Dr. Ana Schauer‘s group at UT Austin. Her research was focused on generative design thinking and design education. While at Georgia Tech, when she was an undergrad, Elisa gained experience in qualitative and mixed-method research methods and K-12 STEM education curriculum development.
Current employment: Graduate Teaching Assistant, The University of Texas at Austin.
Name: Xingang Li 
Education: Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, August 2024.
Bio: Xingang was a Ph.D. student in the SiDi Lab at UT Austin from 2021-2024 and a PhD student in the SiDi Lab at the University of Arkansas from 2019-2021. Xingang’s dissertation research was focused on Human-centered Generative Design with a particular emphasis on Cross-Modal Synthesis for Three-Dimensional Design Concept Generation. Before joining the Ph.D. program, Xingang worked in the auto industry at OTICS Corporation in Japan for four years. He has practical working experience in the design of automotive engine parts for major car manufacturers, such as Toyota and SAIC Motor Co., Ltd. His dissertation can be downloaded here: “Towards Human-Centered Generative Design: Cross-Modal Synthesis for Three-Dimensional Design Concept Generation.”
Current employment: Lecturer, The Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Melbourne.
Name: Samantha Montemayor
Education:
– B.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, May 2023.
Bio: Samantha was an undergraduate student working as a full-time research intern (sponsored by the NSF REU program) in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT Austin in summer 2022. During her stay, Samantha worked on a Design for Market Systems project, using a data-driven methodology, specifically data collected from social media, to build a complex network model to map the co-consideration relationships between different vehicle models over time.
Current employment: Audio Engineering Student at Collin College.
Name: Michael Cardone 
Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, May 2023.
Bio: Michael was an undergraduate student who started working as a summer intern (sponsored by the NSF REU program) after gaining research experience with SiDi Lab over the spring semester. As an intern, he worked on data processing and visualization techniques, as well as network analysis using the Exponential Random Graph Model. Alongside his Mechanical Engineering degree, he also had a minor in Entrepreneurship.
Current employment: Engineering Sales Representative at Hydra-Numatic Sales Company.
Name: Daniel Weber 
Education: M.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, December 2022.
Bio: Daniel was an MS student in the SiDi Lab at UT Austin. Daniel’s MS research was focused on manufacturing scheduling, shop floor optimization, and vertical chunking of large parts in cooperative 3D printing. His thesis can be downloaded here: “Partitioning and Placement for Cooperative 3D Printing.”
Current employment: Development Engineer at CICLOSPORT.
Name: Saivipulteja Elagandula 
Education: B.S., Computer Science, The University of Arkansas, 2022.
Bio: Sai came to SiDi Lab through the Freshman Engineering Research Experience program as an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas. He was pursuing a degree in Computer Science at the University of Arkansas and was working on multi-robot path planning and optimization in cooperative 3D printing.
Current employment: Data Consultant at Credera.
Name: Molla Hafizur Rahman 
Education: Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Arkansas, Aug. 2017 – Aug. 2022.
Bio: Molla was a Ph.D. student and worked as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arkansas. His dissertation research is focused on sequence learning and design decision-making. Before commencing his graduate studies at UA, he worked for a design farm for two years. His dissertation can be downloaded here: “Data-Driven Research on Engineering Design Thinking and Behaviors in Computer-Aided Systems Design: Analysis, Modeling, and Prediction.”
Current employment: Applied AI/ML Associate Senior at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Name: Sumaiya Sultana Tanu 
Education: Ph.D. student, Mechanical Engineering, The University of Arkansas, Aug. 2020 – Jan. 2022.
Bio: Sumaiya was a Ph.D. student and worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arkansas from 2020 to 2022. Prior to joining SiDi Lab, she was working as an Aviation Engineer at Frontier Airlines in Denver, CO. Sumaiya was working on the topic of fairness-aware design, and particularly, the integration of consumer preferences and feedback into engineering design in support of designing marketing strategies with fair and positive targeting.
Current employment: Ph.D. student, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University.
Name: Laxmi Poudel
Education: Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, 2021. B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, 2015.
Bio: Laxmi joined SiDi as a Ph.D. student at the University of Arkansas in 2017. His research was focused on Cooperative 3D Printing and Scheduling. His research has laid down the foundation for the realization of the swarm manufacturing of the future. His dissertation can be downloaded here: “Computational Frameworks for Multi-Robot Cooperative 3D Printing and Planning.” After the Ph.D. study, Laxmi received one year of training as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Down Tilbury’s Group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan.
Current employment: Research Engineer at GE Global Research.
Name: Jared Poe
Education: M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, 2021. B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, 2019.
Bio: Jared joined SiDi when he was a Master’s student at the University of Arkansas. His research was focused on thermal imaging and computer vision in unmanned ground vehicle system design. His master’s thesis can be downloaded here, “Material Detection with Thermal Imaging and Computer Vision: Potentials and Limitations.”
Current employment: L3 Technologies
Name: Colin Corcoran
Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, 2019.
Bio: Colin joined SiDi when he was a junior undergrad at the University of Arkansas. His research was focused on data-driven design and customer choice modeling in community-based additive manufacturing systems.
Current employment: Lockheed Martin Corporation
Name: Sree Chintalapudi
Education: M.S., Operations Management, University of Arkansas, 2018.
Bio: Sree joined SiDi when she was an MS student in Operations Management at the University of Arkansas. Her research was focused on data-driven decision-making in community-based manufacturing service systems.
Current employment: Walmart Inc.
Name: Khoinguyen Trinh
Education: B.S. with Honors, Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, 2019.
Bio: Khoi joined SiDi when he was a junior undergrad honor student at the University of Arkansas. His research was focused on complex networks, particularly using network motif theory to engineer complex communication networks in swarm systems.
Current employment: The Boeing Company
Name: Bofan Yang
Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, 2019.
Bio: Bofan joined SiDi as an exchange scholar in the Summer of 2018. She was a concurrently enrolled student at the University of California, Berkeley, from January to May 2018. Her research was focused on swarm 3D printing and the strength behaviors of cooperatively 3D-printed parts.
Name: Eindra Nwe
Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, 2018.
Bio: Eindra joined SiDi when she was a junior undergrad student at the University of Arkansas. Her research was focused on game theory and its application in cybersecurity, with an emphasis on the simulation of insider threats in power grid systems.
Name: Chandler Bair
Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, 2018.
Bio: Chandler joined SiDi when he was a junior undergrad at the University of Arkansas. His research aimed at developing a scalable mechanism for coordinating a swarm of robots to enable collaborative 3D printing.
Name: Kaleb Porter
Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, 2018.
Bio: Kaleb joined SiDi when he was a junior undergrad at the University of Arkansas. His research aimed at modeling designers’ sequential decision-making in complex systems design.
Current employment: CRB Consulting
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