Faculty:
Damoon Soudbakhsh
Damoon Soudbakhsh
is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Temple University. With experience in industry and academia, his work focuses on developing safe, resilient, and efficient energy systems. He earned his Ph.D. in Transportation Safety from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he developed advanced control techniques for active vehicle safety systems. His doctoral research included innovations such as a steering-control collision avoidance system and an intelligent speed adaptation system.
Dr. Soudbakhsh was affiliated with MIT’s Active Adaptive Controls Laboratory for ten years. As a research scientist at MIT, he pioneered algorithms for the co-design of Cyber-Physical Systems, with applications ranging from automotive systems to power grids. He also developed adaptive algorithms for fault detection and health monitoring of jet engine components.
He is a recipient of the Khwarizmi Young Award and the Dwight Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Award. Dr. Soudbakhsh is a contributing author to the Handbook of Intelligent Vehicles and Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences. He also served as the program chair of the ASME Boston Section from 2015 to 2017. He has been the Awards Chair of the ASME’s Energy Systems Technical Committee since 2024.
Graduate Students:
Renato J. Rodriguez Nunez
Renato is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in the field of Mechanical Engineering at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. He completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at George Mason University and Temple University, respectively. Renato’s research interests include control of linear and nonlinear dynamical systems, model-based and model-free optimization, data-driven modeling, and model reduction of complex high-dimensional systems with unknown dynamics. He completed three separate internship at Ford Motor Company’s Research and Advanced Engineering (R&AE) division, where he led the research efforts on an on-going project involving optimal control of a complex nonlinear MIMO system (AC75 sailboat) via model-free optimization and implemented data-driven modeling (DDM) techniques to develop proxy models of complex internal combustion engine (ICE) and lithium-ion battery (LIB) systems. He is a Research and Teaching Assistant for the Dynamical Systems Laboratory (DSLab) at Temple University. Renato’s Ph.D. aims at introducing more powerful data-driven modeling techniques that can outperform and exceed the limitations of current methods. Read more …
Omidreza Ahmadzadeh
Omidreza is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Temple University. He completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic). Omidreza’s research interests include Linear and Nonlinear Dynamics and Control, Data-Driven Modeling of complex dynamical systems, Mechanical Vibration, Robotics, and Piezoelectric Actuators. He was a Teaching Assistant for Strength of Materials, Mechanical Vibration, and Strength of Materials Laboratory, and a Research Assistant at the Core of Intelligent Systems. Currently, he is a graduate research assistant at the Dynamical System Lab (DSLab). The aim of Omidreza’s Ph.D. research is to utilize analytical and machine learning techniques to develop a tractable data-driven model for complex systems. In his free time, he likes to play soccer and swim.
Mohsen Derakhshan
Mohsen received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Isfahan University of Technology and Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran, respectively. His B.S. project was on “Energy Management in Shahid Salimi Neka Power Plant”, and he worked on ‘Optimal control power-torque distribution in a hybrid vehicle with a parallel configuration’’ as his M.S. thesis. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2017 to 2018. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Temple University, working on the Modeling of Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs). Mohsen’s Focus is on characterizing the safety status of LIBs based on their time constants and introducing criteria to determine the extent of mechanical damage from the LIB’s impedance spectra. His research interests are on Linear and Non-Linear Dynamics and Control, Hybrid-Electric Vehicles, Optimization, Li-Ion Battery Modeling, and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) Measurements and Analysis. He enjoys spending time with his wife and playing basketball, fishing, and hiking in his free time.
Alexa Shaw
Alexa earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Temple University and is currently pursuing her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering. She serves as a teaching assistant for Machine Theory & Design and a research assistant in the Dynamical Systems Lab. Her research focuses on frequency response modeling of batteries to examine how different materials and conditions affect cell performance. Her interests include Battery Testing, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), and Equivalent Circuit Modeling (ECM). In her free time, Alexa enjoys running around the city and exploring new restaurants.
Undergraduate Students:
Stefanie Beard
Stefanie is a senior mechanical engineering student at Temple University. Her research focuses on designing AI 1/10 scale cars using LIDAR and sensors to simulate cars parallel parking in order to increase the efficiency of parking garages in cities. In addition to research, she plays the piccolo in the Temple University Diamond Marching Band, is a TA for CAD and Fluids Lab, and acts as a recording secretary for both Sigma Alpha Iota Delta Mu and Pi Tau Sigma Beta Alpha.
Austin Cook
Austin is a senior mechanical engineering student at Temple University. Austin’s past experience includes designing and building a miniature forklift and project management internship, where he helped design the piping for a pH neutralization system. Austin’s interests include cars, surfing, playing softball, golfing, and traveling.
Katie Martin
Katie is a senior mechanical engineering student at Temple University. Her research focuses on the design of a A.I. 1:10 scale car-like robot incorporating the use of LIDAR, cameras, and ultrasonic sensors to simulate the non-holonomic motion of cars to increase the efficiency of parking infrastructures. In addition to her research, Katie is the president for the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, the membership chair for the Society of Women Engineers, and an Owl Ambassador for the College of Engineering. In her free time she likes to take her dogs on long walks.
Nick Mecca
Nick is a senior Electrical Engineering student at Temple University. Nick is focusing on the hardware and electrical systems that are integrated in the AI 1/10 scale cars. He is experienced in hardware, software, signal processing, and network architecture. Nick had three internships in the Defense and Information Technology industry, as well as research experience with two published papers in medical signal processing for electroencephalograms and digital pathology. In his free time, Nick likes to hike, ski, and golf.
Alex Wroblewski
Alex is a senior Electrical and Computer Engineering student at Temple University. As part of the Senior Design team, increasing the efficiency of parking garages, Alex focuses on designing the software and systems architecture that drives the reproducible platform. After two Co-Ops as a firmware developer with Lutron Electronics, he will be joining the company full-time after he graduates. While at school, Alex provides IT support for university students and faculty at the Help Desk. In his free time, he loves to go hiking and spend time outdoors.
Visiting Student:
Past Members:
Gangho Kim
Gangho is a senior Mechanical Engineering student at Sungkyunkwan University(SKKU), Korea. He joined SKKU in 2018, and then he served in the Korean military from 2019 to 2021. In 2022, he worked as an intern in the data science department of Hyundai Mobis Co.,ltd, and he is currently participating in the West program by the Korean government from 08,2023. He has an interest in data science and robotics. In DSlab, he worked on applying the SINDy algorithm to microbiome data and seeking a certain part of research to develop a dynamical model from the behaviors of a car.
Jay Morrow
Jay earned his B.S. degree from the Mechanical Engineering Department at Temple University. He joined DSLab in May 2020 and has been involved with research focused on simulating and optimizing a high-performance boat. Jay did an engineering internship with KBR and investigated autonomous vehicle navigation for use on small watercraft for his senior design project. Jay also has experience as a teaching assistant for various math courses, including Calculus II, III, and Differential Equations I. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, sailing, kayaking, playing his trombone, and growing tomatoes.
Andrew Stacy
Andrew Stacy earned his B.S in Health Physics from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and earned his master’s degree from Temple University Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is studying the effects of mechanical damage on the electrical response of Li-ion pouch cells. Andrew joined the Dynamic Systems Lab in the summer of 2019. During his time with the Dynamic Systems Lab, he developed test equipment, procedures, and data analysis tools.
His hobbies include basketball, golf, 3D modeling, and strategic games.
Shinae Na
Shinae is a senior Electronics and Communication Engineering student at Kwangwoon University. She completed the Senior Design Project “Helper for the blind” as a team leader. She was in charge of the image processing system with the raspberry pi. Especially, She has interests in wireless communication in automotive. In her free time, Shinae likes watching movies and playing badminton.
Taeyoung Choi
Taeyoung received his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at Ajou University. He has interests in mechanical engineering especially in automotive, aircraft, and robotics. In addition, battery is one of his new interests promising energy storage solution for transportation. He was part of the team that won Silver award at Baja KSAE 2014. His experience in aircraft comes from military service as a helicopter mechanic in Republic of Korea Navy. His hobbies are traveling, playing soccer, and reading books.
Yseul Kim
Yseul Changed major from urban engineering to pursue dream. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to quickly build relationships and form trust with people from various backgrounds. Multilingual speaking Korean, English, and Japanese.
Majoring mechanical engineering
Senior in Pusan National University.