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Meet Our GradPath Mentors
Bates Bennett
Industrial and Systems Engineering, Ph.D.
Research/Academic Interest: My research focuses on simulation and modeling of natural disasters and evacuation protocols.
Career Interest: I am interested in pursuing a career in education and continuing my research at a university in the future.
Nathaniel Alan Childers
Computer Science and Engineering, Ph.D.
Research/Academic Interest: I have not chosen a research topic yet, but I am currently working with Raspet Flight Lab to design efficient algorithms for autonomous flight under uncertainty. My research entails general studies of autonomous flight and the intricacies of path planning under uncertainty.
Career Interest: Effective instruction is something that I view as one of the most important building blocks in a STEM professional's career. With that being said, I am primarily interested in becoming a professor, and helping the next generation of CS, SE, and AI majors get the knowledge they need.
Iffat Ara Ebu
Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ph.D.
Research/Academic Interest: My research interest on computer vision, deep learning models for automated the conventional systems and interested in the control models of autonomous vehicles specifically for Lane Centering (LC), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), and Intersection navigation.
Career Interest: My primary career interest is pursuing research experiences along with gaining industrial experiences in the sectors of computer vision and autonomy.
KarLee Perkins
Engineering Education, Ph.D.
Research/Academic Interest: Grounded in engineering education, my research interests sit squarely at the intersection of faculty development, student mentoring, and research policy. My research examines how federally required mentoring plans in engineering research proposals translate into the day-to-day mentoring experiences of students. Situated within engineering education, this work connects policy-level expectations with lived educational practice, illuminating how structures intended to support mentoring are interpreted, adapted, and enacted within engineering research environments.
Career Interest: I hope to build a career in academia that contributes to the engineering education discipline by focusing on student success in higher education, faculty development, and academic policy. Ultimately, I hope to leverage my professional experience to continue studying the relationships between policy, practice, and learning across educational settings.
Mohammad Abdus Shahid Rafi
Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ph.D.
Research/Academic Interest: My research interests lie in remote sensing technologies for precision agriculture through the integration of signal and image processing with passive sensing techniques from UAS and satellite platforms, utilizing multimodal sensors to support the development of sustainable agricultural and environmental systems.
Career Interest: I aim to contribute as a researcher and academic faculty member in the areas related to electrical and computer engineering by effectively teaching and mentoring students while advancing hands-on, data-driven remote sensing research to develop more efficient and intelligent solutions through multidisciplinary collaboration.
Mahfuzur Rahman
Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ph.D.
Research/Academic Interest: My research area is autonomous vehicle technology and robotics. My research aims to develop algorithms for navigation and object detection for autonomous vehicles.
Career Interest: My career goal is to become an academic and contribute to research and education. I want to collaborate with automobile companies and continue developing autonomous vehicle technology, focusing on improving their safety and efficiency.
Derek Willis
Computer Science and Engineering, M.S.
Research/Academic Interest: I study how people and technology can work together to make information clearer and more useful. My work combines extended reality and data visualization to turn complex ideas into experiences people can see and interact with, always with a focus on solving real-world problems.
Career Interest: I hope to build a career that blends research, teaching, and mentorship. My goal is to create tools that expand what’s possible with data while helping others find their path in technology and discover the impact they can make.