Student Team 

Yusuf is presently pursuing a Ph.D. and serving as a graduate research assistant within the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at Michigan State University (MSU). Additionally, he holds the role of an energy and sustainability analyst on the MSU Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) team. In 2021, he obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Engineering from Middle East Technical University (METU) in Turkey. Subsequently, as an Engineer-In-Training with HASENE International NGO, he contributed to water supply projects in underserved communities in several African countries. In 2023, he completed his Master of Science (MSc) Degree at Central Michigan University (CMU) in the USA. During his MSc program, he led an EPA-funded project focused on pollution prevention in automotive industry, which sparked his interest in sustainability and energy efficiency. 

His LinkedIn profile is here

Cassandra is pursuing her PhD in Civil Engineering while working as a graduate assistant at MSU. She earned her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at Mercer University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. It was while pursuing this degree that she became enamored with sustainability and its potential impacts on people while working alongside a friend and mentor at Mercer. After finishing her degree alongside a minor in Global Development, she joined the team at MSU where she hopes to deepen her own understanding of the field while contributing to the team's research goals.

Patricia Guillante is currently a Ph.D. student and graduate research assistant in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University with focus on energy efficiency and sustainability. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Civil Engineering from University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), in Brazil. After receiving her master’s degree, she accepted a trainee position in a large ready-mix concrete manufacturer in Brazil. She became a plant manager and worked there for three years until she joined MSU to pursue her Ph.D. Her MSc thesis focused on the use of alternative waste materials in partial replacement of cement to reduce cement contents and, consequently, CO2 emissions. She is interested in sustainability and in the role that building’s energy efficiency plays in reducing emissions, as well as their social impact on communities. 

Her LinkedIn profile is here.

Secil Akinci-Ceylan is a PhD student in Educational Technology in the School of Education and working on a National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored engineering education project focusing on ill-structured problem solving approaches. She is currently an intern as a part of the NSF-supported INTERN program, at the American Society for Engineering Education. She holds a BA in Linguistics from Hacettepe University, Turkey. She then worked as an instructor and taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses at Izmir Institute of Technology for three years. She earned her MA in Teaching English as a Second Language in Applied Linguistics and Technology Program at ISU and has experience teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) courses in the English Department and Intensive English and Orientation Program (IEOP) at ISU. Her interests are Engineering Education, Educational Technologies, Instructional Design, and Corpus Linguistics. 

Her LinkedIn profile is here.

Andreana completed her Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering with Summa Cum Laude at Morgan State University in May 2022. During her undergraduate career, she gained various industry experience in civil engineering including traffic, environmental/water resource, and bridge. However, she gained a high interest in sustainability after taking an elective course that focused on LEED. In addition to her industry experience, she has also earned the Engineer-in-Training and LEED Green Associate certifications. She joined Michigan State University in Fall 2022 in the MSc program for Civil Engineering with a focus on energy/sustainability.

Her LinkedIn profile is here

Noah Dreiling is a Junior undergraduate at Michigan State University majoring in Electrical Engineering and Economics. He interned at First Solar for the calendar year of 2021, working in the Post-Sales Support and Product Management groups. Addressing module defects and overseeing product rollouts. During the Summer of 2022, Noah is working on research investigating people’s perceptions and practices around electricity. He plans to attend graduate school to work on energy-related challenges, particularly the interface of humans and technology.

His LinkedIn profile is here.

Owen is an undergraduate student pursuing a Civil Engineering degree, with a structural emphasis. He hopes to graduate in the Spring and start his graduate education in Civil Engineering with the BS/MS program after.

He has a strong interest in sustainability in large cities and buildings, and creating infrastructure that is better for energy and climate. After graduating, Owen would like to work on large projects (skyscrapers, subways) in a major city like Chicago

His LinkedIn profile is here.

Massara is a Freshman undergraduate student majoring in Civil Engineering, with a more specific goal of a career in structural engineering. She has always been interested in infrastructure of all sorts. More recently, she  has become curious about the link between infrastructure and the environment. She is excited to learn more about energy’s role in sustainable development. She hopes to use her learned knowledge for application in future internships and careers.  

Her LinkedIn profile is here.

Zach is a current freshman at Michigan State University majoring in Environmental Engineering and Mandarin Chinese. Zach is currently working on the NNA project, and decided to apply for this role due to the opportunity to combine sociological issues with the ability to reshape the infrastructure system. Zach is hoping to work in project management for infrastructure design in developing countries. Zach's end goal is to is to ultimately make a difference in local communities. 

His LinkedIn profile is here

Jordan is a third year student double majoring in Data Science and Statistics at Michigan State University. Jordan was born and raised in Clinton Township, MI, with a passion towards finding the truth and relevance within data and data analytics. His end goal is to work within a data analytics department for a professional sports team. 

His LinkedIn profile is here

Taylor Stenzel is an Undergraduate Civil Engineer Student at Michigan State University and Undergraduate Research Assistant at the MSU College of Engineering. She is a published researcher in the Journal of Emerging Investigators and is a member of the ASCE. 

Niraj Kunwar completed his Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT), Durgapur, India in 2012. Then, he worked as a service engineer at Pooja International (Volkswagen Nepal) until 2015, where he learned about various engineering systems and innovative technology derived from such systems. His research area of interests are Simulation and Visualization, Control and Optimization of HVAC systems and Data analysis. He currently works at Oakridge National Laboratory. 

His LinkedIn profile is here

Debrudra Mitra completed his Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and Masters degree in Energy Science and Technology from Jadavpur University, India in 2014 and 2016 respectively. His master thesis focused on studying on different types of sustainable building envelopes. He also completed Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University in 2019. During his masters degree he conducted research on sustainable building envelope materials and concentrated solar thermal applications. His research area of interest is on sustainable building energy systems. He mainly focused on occupant behavior, occupant-based controls and its impact on energy performance in building system. He completes his PhD at MSU in CIvil Engineering in 2022. He currently works at TRC.

His LinkedIn profile is here. His Google Scholar profile is here.

Diba Malekpour Koupaei completed her Ph.D. in 2022 in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at Iowa State University. She holds master’s degrees in Civil Engineering (2020) and Sustainable Environments (2018) from Iowa State University and received her bachelor’s degree from Art University of Isfahan in Architectural Engineering (2015). Diba’s research is mainly concerned with building energy performance modeling and energy efficiency in the built environment, specifically residential buildings in the rural and urban landscapes. In addition, she has also worked with smart home energy management systems, where her work involved evaluating users’ perceptions and attitudes towards such devices. 

Her Google Scholar profile is here. Her Linkedin profile is here.

Sina Moharramzadeh earned his BS degree in civil engineering from Azad University – Central Tehran Branch in 2011 and his MSc degree in environmental engineering in 2014 from the University of Tehran (UT), where his research was mainly focused on drinking water treatment. After his master’s degree, he worked in a Nanotechnology research lab at UT as a researcher for one year, working on enhancing sludge sedimentation using graphene oxide and iron nano-particles. In 2016, he joined Iowa State University to earn his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering. His research focus is on a new freeze separation process for seawater desalination and RO brine management. He graduated with his PhD at Iowa State University in 2021. He currently works at HDR.

His Linkedin profile is here. 

Kaanthi Sundaravadanam graduated from Iowa State University in Summer 2017 with her masters in in Construction Engineering and Management. Her masters work focused on Sensitivity Analysis of Building Parameters on Inverse Change Point Models of Residential Building HVAC Systems She currently works full-time at Nelson Engineering. She holds a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering from Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, India, 2015. During her undergraduate studies, she focused on the efficient design of the piping system for her college campus and also focused on the quality testing of the materials. She currently works as an estimator at Shimizu North America.

Her LinkedIn profile is here

Emily completed her master's at Michigan State University in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, following the reception of her bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering. With over four years of industry and research experience driven by her passion for sustainability, Emily's background covers a wide range of industries and roles. Emily's technical ambitions include machine learning, engaging informational platforms, smart technologies, energy modeling and analysis, occupant behavior in buildings, and building-grid interactions. She graduated in 2022 and currently works at Glumac.

Her LinkedIn profile is here. 

Kalyan Prasad Vesta graduated from Iowa State University in Spring 2017, majoring in Construction Engineering and Management. Kalyan’s research topic was on Evaluating the gap in actual and predicted energy performance of LEED buildings: A case study of the State Gym at Iowa State University. Currently he works as a Project Manager for Stueve Construction in Sioux Falls, SD. Prior to ISU, he graduated from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) University, India with Bachelors in Civil Engineering in 2015. During study at VIT, he conducted research on the utilization of sustainable materials in concrete as a substitute of conventional materials. He also worked as an intern at a power plant construction as an undergraduate to gain practical experience. 

Molly is a site civil engineer at Langan Engineering & Environmental Services. She was an undergraduate student at Michigan State University where she majored in civil engineering with a concentration in water resources and a minor in environmental science. During Summer 2021, she is completing research on factors impacting households’ decisions to invest in energy efficiency.

Her LinkedIn profile is here.

Justin is a Senior in the Linked Master of Public Policy at Michigan State University. He finds an interest in anything relating to energy utilities and sustainable development. His goals for the future include working in either government or local communities, in hopes of fulfilling their utility needs. Justin's involvement with the engineering department is to not only help complete research projects, but also to grow and learn from fellow engineers on energy topics. 

His LinkedIn Profile is here.

Don is an undergraduate student at Michigan State University majoring in Computer Science and a minor in Game Design. He is researching ways to increase energy efficiency by analyzing the behavior patterns of occupants in households under the guidance of Professor Cetin. He hopes to use his knowledge to solve interesting problems in different fields in data science.

Zach is a graduate of the MSU Civil Engineering program and a former URA on Dr. Cetin's research team. Born and raised in the Lansing area, Michigan State University was the obvious choice for my engineering education. Originally, he chose to pursue an engineering degree because he was strongly interested in a career within electrical infrastructure but chose civil engineering over electrical engineering because he wanted to study sustainable and renewable infrastructure. Zach was extremely excited to join the team in early 2020 because he had no exposure to the academic research process. It was rewarding to learn more about the current challenges and barriers to the improvement and widescale implementation of automated occupancy-based building utility systems. Zach hopes to play a role in the future implementation of smart infrastructure system in my future career within engineering consulting.

His LinkedIn profile is here.  

Suhail is a Junior undergraduate student majoring in Environmental Engineering at MSU. He is currently helping out as a research assistant on a few different projects. One example being the ARPA-E project that focuses on CO2 level variations in an environment in relation to occupancy number. Once he graduates, he plans to work on projects related to sustainability of green zones and more environmentally friendly building procedures for the future. 

His Linkedin profile is here. 

Ash graduated from MSU in 2020. She is currently a graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

Her Linkedin profile is here.