Our Team

Principal Investigator

Professor Fu Zhao

Fu Zhao

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Sustainability Engineering and Environmental Engineering

Professor Fu Zhao leads the S.E.T.S Lab with expertise in life cycle assessment, sustainable manufacturing, and circular economy. His research focuses on developing quantitative methods to evaluate and improve the environmental performance of emerging technologies and industrial systems.

Post Doctoral Researchers

Venkat Roy

Venkat Roy

Post Doctoral Researcher

Research focus: Environmental impact mapping and critical material tracking in product supply chains, life cycle analysis of mineral extraction methods and battery production, tool development.

PhD Candidates

Xiaohan Wu

Xiaohan Wu

PhD Candidate

Research focus: Life cycle assessment of bioleaching processes for metal extraction, techno-economic analysis of critical material recovery from e-waste.

PhD Students

Aristotelis Lygizos

Aristotelis Lygizos

PhD Student

Research focus: Circular economy for battery and electric vehicle systems, developing circularity indicators and metrics for sustainable transportation.

Cecilia Flores

Cecilia Flores

PhD Student

Research focus: Life cycle assessment and environmental impact analysis of emerging technologies, quantifying sustainability performance across product lifecycles.

Lakshmi Srinivasan

Lakshmi Srinivasan

PhD Student

Research focus: Circular economy and sustainable materials management, investigating resource recovery and closed-loop systems in manufacturing processes.

Master's Students

Undergraduate Researchers

Alumni

Research Assistants

  • Jue Mo - Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Washington

PhD Alumni

  • Dongyan Mu - Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Kean University
  • Nannan Kou - Head of China Research, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
  • William Bernstein - Branch Technical Advisor, Air Force Research Laboratory
  • Jeryang Park - Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Hongik University
  • Hao Zhang - Senior Manager, LCA & Sustainability, ESG, ON Semiconductor
  • Liang Cong - Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian Jiaotong University
  • Ehsan Vahidi - Assistant Professor, John N. Butler Endowed Professor in Extractive Metallurgy, Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno
  • Mohammad Abotalib - Assistant Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, Kuwait University
  • Chul Hun Choi - Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Sejong University
  • Timothy Simon - Research and Development Scientist, Amazon.com, Inc.
  • Jinjian Cao - Algorithm Engineer, Empyrean Technology
  • Matthew Triebe - Mechanical Engineer, NIST
  • Xuda Lin - Senior Environmental Analyst, Apple Inc.
  • Taiyuan Huang - Postdoc scholar, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Yi Ji - Lead Standard Engineer, UL Standards & Engagement
  • Sameer Kulkarni - Postdoc researcher, Idaho National Laboratory
  • Edwin Kpodzro - Associate Consultant, Innosight, Huron Consulting Group

Master's Alumni

  • Jonathan Ogaldez - Mechanical Engineer, Sandia National Laboratory
  • Vance Murry - Engineering Manager, Danfoss Power Solutions
  • Gaurav Satija - Team Lead - Finance Reporting & Analytics, Elsevier
  • Julio Navarro - Director of Manufacturing, Ausco Products, Inc.
  • Yongxian Zhu - Energy scientist, Argonne National Lab (after PhD from Michigan)
  • Yuxin Zhai - Huawei Technologies Co. (after PhD from Michigan)
  • Giovanny Aguilera - Sr. Quality Engineer, Collins Aerospace
  • Praneet Arshi - Program Manager, Supply Chain Sustainability & Net Zero, Google, Inc.
  • Hao Luo - Assistant Professor, School of Economics, Changzhou University (after PhD from Purdue)