Current Members
Graduate Students
Byung Gun Joung, Ph.D. student
bjoung@purdue.edu
Byung Gun is currently a Ph.D. candidate advised by Professor John W.Sutherland. Byung Gun graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer & communication engineering and received his M.S. degree from electrical engineering at Korea University. Now his research focuses on (1) the smart and sustainable manufacturing system. (2) Improving production technology intrastructure of Indiana state through WHIN project.
Xiaoyu Zhou, Ph.D. student
zhou952@purdue.edu
Xiaoyu is currently an M.S. student in Professor Sutherland's group. Her research interest is the application of geographic data analysis in the Techno-Economic Analysis(TEA). She is now working on projects related to TEA and Life Cycle Assessment(LCA) of the critical materials.
Thomas Maani , Ph.D. student
tmaani@purdue.edu
Thomas Maani is from Kampala, Uganda and is a current Ph.D. student under the supervision of Professor Sutherland. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 2016. He got his master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Toledo, USA in 2019. His research interests are in circular economy, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), sustainability, and recycling. He is now working on a project related to value recovery and closed loop recycling of rare earth permanent magnets used in electric vehicles (EVs).
Neha Shakelly, Ph.D. student
nshakell@purdue.edu
Neha Shakelly is a PhD student being advised by Dr. John W. Sutherland. She has a bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering from Amrita University, India, and a Master's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering from Purdue. For her Master's, she worked on creating digital twins for the characterization of carbon fiber-epoxy composite materials. Her research interest is in the application of optimization and operations research methods in the field of sustainable aviation fuels and alternate energy. She is currently working on Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) and Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) of sustainable aviation fuel manufacturing and is supported by DOE in collaboration with PNNL and Lanza Tech.
Yue Yao, Ph.D. student
yao283@purdue.edu
Yue Yao is from Shanxi, China, and is currently a Ph.D. student under supervision of Professor Sutherland and Professor Zhao. Yue received her B.S. degree in Environmental Science from Lanzhou University in China. She completed her M.S. program of Industrial Ecology at Leiden University and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Before coming to Purdue, she worked as an environmental consultant for the China Building Materials Federation and the Environmental Development Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China. Her research mainly focuses on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). She is now working on a project related to the integration of LCA and Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) into chemical design.
Chris Copeland, Ph.D. student
copelac@purdue.edu
Chris Copeland is a masters student under supervision of Professor John W. Sutherland. He has a bachelors in Nuclear Engineering from Purdue University and is from Indianapolis Indiana. Prior work involved installation of the digital reactor instrumentation and control system for the nuclear reactor at Purdue. Prior research focused on the neutral beam injector for ITER as well as a prismatic high temperature gas-cooled reactor for industrial steam electrolysis. current research interests include the nuclear fuel life cycle as well as reprocessing and safe storage and disposal. He is currently working on supply chain analysis and the risks to manufacturing.
Yong Han Kim, Ph.D. student
kim3822@purdue.edu
Yong Han (Roy) is currently a Ph.D. student advised by Professor John W. Sutherland. Yong Han (Roy) received his B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Hanyang University (Seoul, Korea) and received his M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. His main interest is on conducting research about Smart & Sustainable Manufacturing, which encompasses economical and environmental aspects, that can lead to manufacturing processes more sustainable. Currently, he is working as a Research Assistant with the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and mostly interested in EV battery and semiconductor industry.
Albin John, Ph.D student
albinjohn@purdue.edu
Albin is currently a PhD student advised by Prof. John W. Sutherland. He received his Masters from EEE in 2021. He works on the TEA and LCA of critical material processing.
Laura Almeida Tinjaca, M.S. student
almeidat@purdue.edu
Laura Almeida Tinjaca is a master's thesis student co-advised by Dr. Sutherland and Dr. Cai. She holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the National University of Colombia. Her research interests include urban sustainability, emerging transportation systems, industrial ecology and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Ritbik Kumar
kumar684@purdue.edu
Ritbik received his B.Tech degree in Marine Engineering from Indian Maritime University/ DMET (Kolkata, India). He is currently an MS Student in Industrial Engineering at Purdue University. His interest includes Manufacturing and Optimization.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Chandra Nath, Ph.D.
nathc@purdue.edu
Dr. Nath is a Senior Research Associate in EEE at Purdue. He is also an Adjunct Faculty for teaching several courses in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science at the Purdue University, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. Dr. Nath has 18 years of research and teaching experiences from Academia, Industry, and Govt Lab (Singapore). He is the Co-Founder and Ex-CTO at Maijker Corp. (a Purdue spin-off), West Lafayette, IN, where, with partners, he was involved in developing a commercial smart machine monitoring system (from 2020-23) and led the National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC)-sponsored Elevate Venture Grants. Dr. Nath has fortune 100 experience gained as a Research Scientist in the Industrial Innovation Lab and the Automotive Products Research Lab at the Hitachi America R&D Division (2015-20). Prior appointments include: i) Postdoc Fellow at Georgia Tech (2014-15), ii) Postdoc Fellow (2011-14) and Visiting Lecturer (2013-14) at UIUC, iii) Research Scientist at Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (2009-11), iv) Adjunct Faculty at National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore (2011-11), v) Lecturer at Chittagong university of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh (2005). He received a Ph.D. degree from NUS, Singapore in 2009, and a B.Sc. degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh in 2004, both in Mechanical Engineering. His research includes advanced manufacturing and design, machining, smart and sustainable manufacturing processes and systems, machine monitoring and automation, green manufacturing, tooling/cooling systems, metrology system, circular materials economy, and sustainability impacts on society, ecosystem, and environment.