Skip navigation

Our People

Faculty

Hua Cai

Hua Cai  [CV]  [Google Scholar]  [LinkedIn]
Associate Professor
Schools of Industrial Engineering and Environmental & Ecological Engineering
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN, USA

Education
PhD, Environmental Engineering & Natural Resources and Environment (jointly conferred) 2015
University of Michigan

MS, Environmental Engineering 2007
Pennsylvania State University

BS, Environmental Engineering 2005
Tsinghua University

Graduate Students

Laura Almeida Tinjaca
(M.S. Student in Ecological Sciences & Engineering interdisciplinary graduate program)

 

B.S. in Industrial Engineering, National University of Colombia

Research Interests: Urban Sustainability, Emerging Transportation Systems, Industrial Ecology, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Photo of Li Song

Fang Chen
PhD Student (IE)

 

Photo of Yiming Liu

Yiming Liu

PhD student (EEE)

Ph.D. student in Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Purdue University

M.S. in Environmental Science, Peking University (China), 2021

B.E., Chemical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology (China), 2018

Research interests: assessment of risks associated with accidental material releases, such as oil spills and chemical leaks, coupled with life cycle assessment methods.

Photo of Dishna Phukan

Dishna Phukan
MS student (IE)

M.S. student in Industrial Engineering, Purdue University

Bachelor of Technology in Civil and Environmental Engineering from SVNIT, Surat; with major interest in Environmental Engineering.

Research interest: operation research and simulation

Photo of Zhuoli Yin

Zhuoli Yin (LinkedIn)
PhD Student  (IE), 

Ph.D. student in Industrial Engineering, Purdue University

M.S. in Industrial Engineering, Purdue University, 2021

B.E. in Electronic Information Engineering

Research interest: Urban computing, AI for sustainability, and intelligent tutoring systems

Photo of Kendrick Hardaway

Kendrick Hardaway
PhD Student  (EEE/ESE), co-advised by Prof. Roshi Nateghi
I am a PhD student in the Ecological Sciences & Engineering interdisciplinary graduate program and am housed in Environmental & Ecological Engineering. In 2018, I graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor's degree in Biological Engineering. My current research interests are in using agent-based and predictive models to determine the long-term impacts of autonomous vehicles. When not working on research, I am normally playing a sport, slack lining, reading, volunteering, or playing board/card games.

Undergraduate Students

Photo of Kirsten Castelli

Kirsten Lynne Castelli
I am an undergraduate student studying Industrial Engineering with a minor in Economics at Purdue University. My current research interest is in human behavior analysis of decision making. I enjoy my research field of interest because it focuses on why people make the decisions they do as well as what makes them most satisfied as customers, clients, etc. This is important to me as it helps to combine my Industrial Engineering problem solving mindset as well as the ability to work with people, and my Economics mindset with decision making. 

Photo of Pengyu Chang

Pengyu Chang
I am an undergraduate student in Industrial Engineering at Purdue University. My current research interests are in supply chain and custom behavior analysis of decision making. What I like about my research is that it helps me get a deeper understanding of how to use IE methods to work out real world problems. I hope that my research will also help some companies redesign their products to attract customers, and will make significant contributions to these research areas.

Photo of Koichiro Hadiprajitno

Koichiro Hadiprajitno
I am an undergraduate student in Industrial Engineering with a statistics minor at Purdue University. My current research interests are statistical learning and analytics, and human behavior analysis of decision making. What I like about my research is that it helps me and others to understand more about how products’ design, branding, etc., could significantly affect whether someone would buy a product or not. I am passionate about the research because it can really help the world make a difference from both the environmental and economic perspective.

Jackson Reed Honnold

Photo of Emily Johncox

Emily R. Johncox
I am an undergraduate student studying Industrial Engineering at Purdue University, minoring in German and Sustainable Engineering. My current research is in optimizing bike share programs, specifically in determining the ideal locations for bike docks. I’m most interested in interactions between environmental sustainability and urban life and infrastructure. I enjoy my research because it challenges me and allows me to use my IE background to dive into environmental issues. I find it a good foundation for me to learn the skills to start solving global problems. 

Photo of Jessica Kurniawan

Jessica Kurniawan
I am an undergraduate student majoring in Industrial Engineering, and currently assisting in research on customer behavior and decision making on green-labeled products. I like doing this research because it combines Psychology and Engineering and focuses not only on marketing and "green" products, but also on human behavior. This research will teach us how to solve problems by using engineering, economic, and psychological skills together. 

Photo of Katherine Leinenbach

Katherine E. Leinenbach
I am an undergraduate student studying Industrial Engineering with a minor in Management at Purdue University. Currently, I am involved in consumer behavior research. With the rest of the research team, we analyze our participants' decision making process when choosing to purchase certain items at the grocery store. Through this research opportunity, I have learned more about what information is significant to each individual, whether that be nutritional facts, price, brand recognition, etc. I look forward to seeing what impact our research will have as we move from data collection to data analysis.

Photo2 of Wen Li

Wen Li
I am an undergraduate student in Industrial Engineering with a mathematics minor at Purdue University, currently pursuing a certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. My research interests are system analysis and design. I am now working on research analyzing the motifs of a multi-modal transportation system based on the 2009 national household travel survey data. I hope this research can help improve the efficiency of the transportation system we currently have.

Photo of David H. Park

David H. Park
I am currently an undergraduate student in the Industrial Engineering program at Purdue University. My current research interests are statistical analysis of human behavior and the sustainable decision making process. This research helps me to understand how product placement, design, branding, and more could impact a consumer's purchasing habits. I am enthusiastic about the prospect of potentially creating more sustainable conditions from both economic and environmental perspectives.

Photo of Anna Poznyak

Anna Poznyak
I’m an undergraduate student in Industrial Engineering with minors in Statistics and Global Engineering. I’m working with Zhaoyu Kou on the urban transportation systems project, in particular, bike-share systems I’m interested in optimizing stations’ locations and exploring the relationship between the cost of subscription and the number of subscribers and one-time users. I’m an avid biker myself, and I’m very excited for this research project as I can contribute towards something that I love and, hopefully, make biking more convenient and attractive to other people. LinkedIn

Photo of Junxue Zhang

Junxue Zhang
I’m a undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, participating in a joint engineering program with Shanghai Jiaotong University, China (expected graduation Spring 2018). I’m currently assisting the data collection of the impact on consumer behavior and decision making on environmental sustainability. I look forward to further exploring the decision making mechanics relating to people and industries.

Photo of Mingyu Zhang

Mingyu Zhang
I am a senior undergraduate student in the School of Ecological and Environmental Engineering at Purdue University. My focus on this field is addressing sustainability and resiliency challenges through statistical learning theory, systematic system design and risk assessment. In the future, I would like to keep working on assessing environmental and ecological implications on our accelerated urbanization by integrating social factors, ecological factors and economic factors. LinkedIn

Alumni Graduate Students

Past Group Photos

Photo of Mustafa Lokhandwala

Dr. Mustafa Lokhandwala [LinkedIn]

  • Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, Purdue University
  • BTech in Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Pune (India).
  • Immediate placement: Senior Operations Research Analyst, NetJets

 

Photo of Yue Zhou

Yue Zhou
MS student
I am a Master's student in the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University. My current research interests lie generally in operations research and simulation. I earn my Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Chongqing University (China) in 2016.

Photo of  Yifan Tong

Yifan Tong
Master's Student
I'm a graduate student in Environmental & Ecological Engineering. I earned my Bachelor's degree  in Environmental Science at Nanjing University-Jingling College. My research background is in the area of water/wastewater treatment and solid waste treatment. With Dr. Cai I'm working on the topic of the effect new technologies can have on food waste.

 

Photo of Yechan Lim

Yechan Lim
I am a Master's student in the School of Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University. My research interests lie in the fields of social and political sustainability- specifically on how people perceive climate change and sustainability. Upon graduation, I hope to work with developing nations to create sustainable models for modernization and help minimize the impact of their growing emissions portfolios. LinkedIn

Photo of Zhaoyu Kou

Zhaoyu Kou
PhD Candidate (IE)
I am a PhD student in the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University, specializing in the field of Operations Research. My current research interest focuses on the optimization of sustainable multi-modal urban transportation systems and the understanding of urban travel patterns. I received a Master of Science degree in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University in 2016 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) in 2014.

Photo of Li Song

Li Song
PhD Candidate (EEE)
I am a PhD student majoring in Environmental and Ecological Engineering. My current research interests focus on the area of sustainability, specifically, the impact of consumers’ behavior and decision making on environmental sustainability. I feel that it is where my great passion genuinely lies. I received a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Purdue in 2016. Prior to joining Purdue, I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from Wuhan University of Technology in China in 2014. LinkedIn

Photo of Ruoxi Wen

Ruoxi Wen
PhD student (IE)
I am a PhD student in Industrial Engineering. My current research interests fall into the scope of system analysis of shared autonomous vehicles. Prior to joining Purdue, I obtained my Master's and Bachelor's in Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the University of Science and Technology of China in 2016 and 2013, respectively.

Photo of Bijon Rafie

Bijon Rafie
MS student (EEE)
My name is Bijon Rafie and I am a master’s student in EEE. I have worked in the oil and gas industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated during offshore exploration and production operations. My research interests revolve around emissions and waste generated by vehicles. After graduation I hope to take the knowledge I gather in this area and apply it in the oil and gas industry to continue reducing emissions and working towards the crucial energy transition. 

Photo of Hao Luo

Hao Luo (LinkedIn)
PhD Student  (EEE), co-advised by Prof. Fu Zhao
I am a Ph.D. student majoring in Environmental and Ecological Engineering. My current research interests focus on improving the environmental performance of urban transportation systems via system simulation, optimization, statistical analysis, and life cycle assessment. I received a Master of Science degree in Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue in 2019. Prior to joining Purdue, I obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering at Hohai University in China in 2017.

Alumni Undergraduate Students

Photo of Fajar Ausri

Fajar Ausri
I am an undergraduate student studying Industrial Engineering with a minor in Psychology at Purdue University. My current research explores the factors that affect bike ridership in bike sharing systems. We are particularly interested in doing a multi-city analysis that would allow us to make more generalizable conclusions. This research has helped me understand the intricacies of working with larger pieces of data, particularly how you load them into software and process them. Research is definitely a great way to learn transferrable skills and apply them to something real. 

 
Photo of Yichen Zhong
Yichen Zhong
I received my dual BS in Environmental and Ecological Engineering and Natural Resources & Environmental Science at Purdue University in May 2017. I'm currently pursuing my Master's degree in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Systems Engineering concentration) at UC Berkeley. LinkedIn

 

 

Photo of Xiayu Cai

 

Xiayu Cai
I am an undergraduate student in Industrial Engineering with minors in Communication and Statistics. My current research interests lie in the field of data analysis, sustainability and human behavior analysis of decision making. Currently I am involved in a research project on studying consumer decision making using eye tracking glasses. I have learned the basic idea about consumer decision making through this research. I'm glad to have this opportunity and I am looking forward to learning more about data collection and data analysis.

 

 

Photo of Yingnan Guo

Yingnan Guo (LinkedIn)

I received my BS in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University in December 2016. I'm currently a Master student in Data Analytics at University of Waterloo, 

 

Photo of Jian Pan

Jian Pan
I received my BS in Industrial Engineering in December 2016 from Purdue University with a minor in Mathematics. I'm currently a Logistics Analyst at DJI in Shenzhen, China.

 

Photo of Xiao Shi

Xiao Shi
I received my BS in Industrial Engineering in December 2016 from Purdue University and am currently a Master's student in the department of Industrial & Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.