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Lafi Alatawi is a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering working with Professor Luis Gomez. His research improves the offline computational stage of the probabilistic matrix decomposition framework, which evaluates many coil configurations on a realistic head model and distills the results into a set of precomputed modes, so that the electric field induced in the brain by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can later be estimated almost instantly for any coil placement (see fast electric field solvers). Accurate TMS electric field simulations are computationally expensive, so cutting the cost of this stage helps make fast, patient-specific field estimation practical for treatment planning and neuronavigation.
Outside the lab. He enjoys spending time with family and friends, hiking, drawing, traveling, and exploring new things and activities.
Muhammad Arshad is a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, co-advised by Professors Luis Gomez and Weng Cho Chew. He designs and experimentally validates the hardware side of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS): a pulse power driver and coil system that deliver precisely controlled, high-current electromagnetic pulses, and a compact prototype for TMS studies in small animals. Commercial TMS systems are expensive and specialized, so an affordable, compact small-animal system lowers the cost and technical barriers to controlled electromagnetic stimulation experiments and puts them within reach of more laboratories. The work brings together high-power pulse electronics, resonant circuits, coil design, and electric field measurement (see TMS coil design and hardware).
Outside the lab. He enjoys playing cricket and activities that help him maintain a healthy balance between work and personal life.
Rodrigo Esparza-Rivera is a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering working with Professor Luis Gomez. He develops hierarchical matrix implementations that cut the computational time and memory of large-scale simulations by compressing the low-rank interactions hidden in their matrices, with a particular focus on simulating large arrays of neurons (see scalable bidomain solvers). Large-scale engineering simulations are often limited by exactly these costs, so this work makes increasingly complex simulations computationally feasible.
Outside the lab. Rodrigo is interested in the arts, particularly music. He is currently involved in two musical projects: one focused on live performances in West Lafayette and another, called Time Slide, dedicated to sharing original music on social media. He also enjoys spending time with friends and playing video games.
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Masood Nekoie is a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering working with Professor Luis Gomez. He builds volume integral equation solvers that compute the electric field a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coil induces inside the brain, using potential-based formulations that stay accurate where the sharp contrast between tissues breaks standard methods (see high-contrast-stable volume integral equations). Conventional solvers lose accuracy when the frequency is low and the tissue contrast is high, both of which are true for TMS, so a formulation that remains stable in that regime lets a single solver cover everything from kilohertz stimulation through radio-frequency exposure.
Seyed Sina Vaezi is a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering working with Professor Luis Gomez. He develops fast methods for solving electromagnetic scattering problems, including broadband fast multipole algorithms and volume integral equation formulations that carry across electric field dosimetry, signal integrity, and acoustics (see kernel-independent fast multipole methods). These methods are what bring ultra-large and high-frequency problems within reach of simulation.
Amanda Walenciak is a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering working with Professor Luis Gomez. She uses a bidomain boundary element method solver to test how geometric factors shape the way a neuron responds to an impinging electric field, working from fully realistic surface meshes built with the group’s in-house meshing tool (see bidomain neuron modeling). Her results clarify how much biologically accurate morphology matters when neurons are modeled, which in turn improves the tools used to design and target electric brain stimulation.
Outside the lab. Amanda is a violinist, violist, and is the Vice President of the Purdue Music Composition and Theory Club.
Sizhe Zhu is a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, co-advised by Professors Luis Gomez and Weng Cho Chew. He develops fast electromagnetic field solvers built on discrete exterior calculus that stay stable and accurate from DC to high frequencies, and his current project couples a boundary integral equation to the solver so that open problems such as scattering and radiation are truncated exactly rather than with an approximate absorbing boundary (see the hybrid discrete exterior calculus and surface integral equation framework). Chip packages, interconnects, and antennas are designed almost entirely in simulation, so a solver that is both stable across the whole frequency range and fast sets how quickly and reliably these devices can be engineered.
Outside the lab. He builds custom PCs with open-loop water cooling.