Lab Members

 

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:

Dr. Hamidreza Najafi

Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering

Florida Institute of Technology

150 W. University Blvd. Melbourne, FL 32901-6988

F.W. Olin Engineering Complex, Office 211

Email: hnajafi@fit.edu Phone: (321) 674-8408

 

Dr. Hamidreza Najafi is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Innovations in Sustainable Energy and Thermal Systems (ISETS) group at the Florida Institute of Technology. His research focuses on the design and optimization of thermal and energy systems, computational heat transfer, and sustainable built environments. He has authored or co-authored over 70 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, as well as a book (Wiley, 2023) and a book chapter (Springer, 2021). Dr. Najafi's work has been funded by prominent agencies such the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), NASA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), ASHRAE, and various private industries. He is an Executive Committee member of the American Society of Thermal and Fluids Engineers (ASTFE), Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities and co-chair of the ASME Computational Heat Transfer Technical Committee. In the past, Dr. Najafi has held prominent roles, including General Conference Chair of the 2023 ASME International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Chair of the ASME Renewable Energy and Energy Conversion Technical Committee, Technical Program Chair of the 9th Thrmal and FLuids Engineering Conference (TFEC 2024) and Guest Editor for both the ASME Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer and the Journal of Energy Resources Technology. He is also serving as the ASHRAE Student Branch Advisor of Florida Institute of Technology since 2015 and served as the Vice-Chair of the ASHRAE TC 9.13 Space (2022-2024). Before joining Florida Tech, Dr. Najafi was a lead graduate student and engineer at the Alabama Industrial Assessment Center (funded by the U.S. DOE) from 2011 to 2015, where he worked on improving the efficiency and decarbonization of industrial energy systems.

 

Doctoral Students:

Mariana Migliori- PhD Candidate

Mariana received her bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2018 and MS degree in 2021 from Florida Institute of Technology. She is currently a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering with specialization in Thermal Fluid Sciences. Her research interest includes: optimization of energy efficiency in buildings, building automation, energy efficient measures in K-12 schools, energy forecasting using intelligent algorithms, and heat transfer.

  

Masters Students:

 

  is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology. With a keen interest in zero energy buildings and renewable energy,  is focused on advancing sustainable solutions for the future. This includes researching innovative technologies and methods to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprints in the building sector.

 

 

Alex Larrivee - Alex recieved his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in May 2024. His research is focused on energy efficient built environments and innovative designs for thermal systems. In his free time he enjoys running on the Florida Tech cross country and track team and participating in ultra endurance events. 

 

 

  

 

ALUMNI

Ph.D. Students:

Puyi Yang - Ph.D. (Dec 2021)- Currently D&R Engineer, CHN Energy United Power Technology Company 

[Dissertation: Application of Ensemble Methods for Solving Offshore Wind Farm Layout Optimization Problems]

 

Modess Seyednezhad - Ph.D. (Dec 2021) - Currently Senior Thermal Engineer at Blueshift Materials 

[Dissertation: Thermoelectric-Based Cooling Systems for Building Application: A Sustainable Solution]

 

 

Obinna Uyanna- Ph.D. (May 2021)-Currently Senior Hardware Engineer at Dell Technologies 

[Dissertation: Inverse Approaches for Near-Real Time Estimation of Surface Heat Flux in Thermal Protection Systems for Space Vehicles ]

 

 

  David Sykes - Ph.D. (May 2018) - Currently Thermal Controls Technology Group Lead at Mainstream Engineering Corporation  [Dissertation: Effect of Cavitation Regimes on Stepped Diesel Injectors ]

 

Post Doctoral Associates:

Shahin Shafiee - Postdoc (July 2017-May 2018) - Currently Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Prairie view A&M University

MSc Students:

 

 Thesis: Artificial Neural Networks as the Solution of Inverse Heat Conduction Problems in Multidimensional Domains.

 

 

 

Syed Arafun Nabi (May 2023-May 2024)

Thesis: Methodologies for Optimization and Surface Heat Flux Estimation for Hybrid Thermal Protection Systems

Currently Consultant, Mechanical Engineer at kW Mission Critical Engineering, Member of WSP

 

 

 

Felix Gabriel  (Jan 2023-Aug 2023)-Currently Laboratory Manager, Florida Institute of Technology

 

 

 

Nivedha Karigiri Madhusudhan - M.Sc. (Dec 2022)- Currently Mechanical Engineer at Eta Space

Thesis: Thermal Design and Energy Analysis of a Greenhouse in Microgravity Conditions

 

 

 

 Alex Callinan -M.Sc. (Dec 2022)- Currently Engineer at Oak Ridge National Lab 

   Thesis: A Data Driven Approach for Energy Assessment of Industrial Facilities

 

  

 

Dominic Allard -M.Sc. (Dec 2021)- Currently Associate Professional Staff I, at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab 

Thesis: A Comparative Study on the Application of Intelligent Algorithms as the Solution of Inverse Heat Conduction Problems

 

 

Benjamin Kubwimana -M.Sc. (Dec 2021)-Currently Thermal Engineer at NVIDIA 

Thesis:  A Machine Learning-Based Approach to Predict and Optimize the Performance of Zero Energy Building (ZEB): A Case Study for Florida

  

 

 

Mariana Migliori- M.Sc. (May 2021)-Currently PhD student in Mechanical Engineering [Thesis: Modeling and Energy Simulation of a Zero Energy Building: A Case Study for Florida]

 

  
 

Jian Zhang  - M.Sc. (Aug 2020) - Currently PhD student in Aerospace Engineering. [Thesis: Application of Neural Networks for Solving One Dimensional Inverse Heat Conduction Problems with Surface Ablation]

 

 

Ganesh Doiphode - M.Sc. (May 2019) -Currently Mechanical Engineer at SETTY and Associates 

[Thesis: Energy, Exergy and Economic Analysis of a Micro-CCHP System]

 

 

David Rochelle - M.Sc. (Dec 2018) - Currently Aerospace Engineer (Liquid Propulsion), at NASA 

[Thesis: An Experiment to Study the Gaseous Emissions of a Gas Turbine Operated with Biodiesel as Fuel]

 

 

Owen Betharte - M.Sc. (May 2018) - Currently Design Engineer at Winchester Interconnect 

[Thesis: Towards Net Zero Energy Buildings: A Parametric Study on Building Energy Performance for Different US Climate Zones]

 

 

Anuj Pant -  MS.c. (May 2018) - Currently Senior System Engineer at Joby Aviation 

 

 

 

Sourabh Dhole - M.Sc. (May 2018) - Currently Business Solution Specialist at Linkez Technologies Private Limited 

 

 

 

Dhruv Sangal - M.Sc. (Dec 2017) - Currently Solar Engineer at WAPCOS Limited official 

[Thesis: Towards Green Building: Energy Efficient Roof System for Buildings]

 

 

Bhuvaneswari Rajendra-  M.Sc. (Dec 2017) - Currently Manufacturing and Validation Engineer at West Pharmaceutical Services 

[Thesis: A Real-Time Solution Strategy for Estimation of Aerothermal Heating for Reentry Vehicles]

 

  

Akshay Bhargava- M.Sc. (March 2017) - Currently Mechanical Engineer at TRC Worldwide Engineering, MEP, Inc.

 

 

 

BSc Students:

Alexis Linder- B.Sc. 2024

 

 

 

 

 Lindsey Kahn - B.Sc.  2023- Currently Associate Engineer Manufacturing, Northrop Grumman (Florida)

 

  

 

 

Angelique Catcha Picard - B.Sc. 2021-Currently Graduate Research Assistant (Canada)

 

 

 

 

Joseph Luya - B.Sc. 2020- Currently Electro Mechanical Engineer at Lockheed Martin (Florida)

 

 

Daniel Hocheimy - B.Sc. 2020- Currently Graduate Assistant at Florida Tech (Florida)

 

 

Bhaskar Aggarwal - B.Sc. 2019-Currently Senior Quality Engineer at Motherson Group

 

 

 

Tejas Thakur - B.Sc. 2019 -Currently Product Analyst at Yocket (India)