Bachelor of Science in Applied Science, Miami University, 2007, School of Engineering and Applied Science - Computer Engineering

This thesis explores Engineering at Miami University through personal reflection and comparisons to other Engineering schools in Ohio. The goal of the thesis is to provide Miami's School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) with suggestions for improvement based on my experiences in undergrad and survey data from Engineering students at Miami University, Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati and Wright State University. Specific areas of interest are the schools' Introduction to Engineering courses as well as strengths and weaknesses of each Engineering program.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

To adequately address the unprecedented challenges that our global society faces, the next generation of scientists and engineers must learn to navigate and collaborate with an understanding of the complex ways in which technical and social aspects are intertwined. In recent years, programs centered around Engineering for Sustainable Development, community engagement, and humanitarian engineering have been developed to provide students with opportunities that build essential skill sets known as Global Sociotechnical Competency. This work investigated the impact on intercultural competence of students engaging with globally focused courses and projects offered at The Ohio State University that are part of the Humanitarian Engineering program. Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies including the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), focus groups, surveys, and narrative analysis, were utilized to assess the student learning outcomes associated with these experiential learning opportunities. Findings from this work indicate that engineering students are able to simultaneously develop both technical and sociotechnical skill sets, which will more effectively prepare STEM graduates for their professional careers. This study detailed the impacts relating to intercultural competence for students enrolled in a Global Capstone course, a COIL Community Engaged Learning engineering course, and pathways of completion of the Humanitarian Engineering Minor. The Global Capstone series demonstrated meaningful impact on students interculture competence while achieving the desired technical learning outcomes of a traditional engineering capstone. The mean IDI Development Orientation (DO) gain was 12.89, (n=23, p <0.002). With students reaching as high as the Adaptation orientation. In terms of mindset shifts, the post – IDI survey indicated that 87% of the class achieved a non-ethnocentric perspective (intercultural mindset) as opposed to 57% at the beginning of t (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Cleveland State University, 2016, Washkewicz College of Engineering

Seal whiskers have been found to produce unique wake flow structures that minimize self-induced vibration and reduce drag. The cause of these wake features are due to the peculiar three-dimensional morphology of the whisker surface. The whisker morphology can be described as an elliptical cross section with variation of diameter in the major and minor axis along the length and, angle of incidence, rotation of the elliptical plane with respect to the whisker axis, α at the peak and β at the trough. This research provided a more complete morphology characterization accomplished through CT scanning and analysis of 27 harbor and elephant seal whisker samples. The results of this study confirmed previously reported values and added a characterization of the angle of incidence finding that the majority of angles observed fall within ±5° and exhibit a random variation in magnitude and direction along the whisker length. While the wake effects of several parameters of the whisker morphology have been studied, the effect of the angle of incidence has not been well understood. This research examined the influence of the angle of incidence on the wake flow structure through series of water channel studies. Four models of whisker-like geometries based on the morphology study were tested which isolate the angle of incidence as the only variation between models. The model variations in angle of incidence selected provided a baseline case (α = β = 0°), captured the range of angles observed in nature (α = β = -5°, and α = β = -15°), and investigated the influence of direction of angle of incidence (α = -5°, β = -5°). The wake structure for each seal whisker model was measured through particle image velocimetry (PIV). Angle of incidence was found to influence the wake structure through reorganization of velocity field patterns, reduction of recovery length and modification of magnitude of Tu. The results of this research helped provide a more complete understanding of the seal wh (open full item for complete abstract)

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Engineering and Applied Science: Engineering Education

Etymology of the word engineer is traced to the Latin “ingeniare” which translates as inventor or designer. Engineering design is outlined as one of the seven attributes that engineering students must demonstrate prior to their graduation as established through the Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology (ABET) guidelines (ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission, 2022). To prepare our students to be successful in their professional career, they must be proficient at design and must be able to think creatively and flexibly about optimal solutions to problems. For this reason, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to design capability in order to achieve this learning goal. By nature, design problems are cognitive tasks and tasks that require problem solvers to draw both on learned knowledge and pertinent cognitive abilities for their solution (Cross, 2006; Sanders & Stappers, 2008). In the realm of solving problems within engineering design, spatial visualization is one such cognitive ability that likely plays a role. Numerous studies have demonstrated the need for well-developed spatial visualization skills for success in engineering, especially in engineering problem solving (Duffy et al., 2020; Delahunty et al., 2016; Munoz-Rubke et al., 2021; Sorby et al., 2018). Studies have shown that there is a link between spatial thinking and technical creativity (Allen, 2010; Kell et al., 2013). But limited studies have explored the relationship between spatial visualization skills and engineering design. Using a sequential mixed methods design, this study aims to explore how spatial visualization relates to the engineering design process as enacted by undergraduate engineering students. There were two phases to data collection for this research study. In the first phase, 325 undergraduate engineering students attended an online session where they completed four tests of spatial ability. In the second phase, a purposive sample si (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Engineering Education

As the world grows increasingly more reliant on technology, there have been repeated calls for more, and more diverse, engineers, along with other science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals. From these calls has risen an increased focus on engineering in pre-college education, both in formal and informal learning settings. Along with this increased focus came a corresponding increase in research regarding pre-college engineering education. However, informal engineering experiences are under-studied when compared to formal engineering experiences. This manuscript-style dissertation seeks to provide insight into the literature available about pre-college engineering education and the impact and implications for practice of one informal engineering experience, a Girl Scout engineering badge, on middle schoolers' engineering identity development. To begin my work, I conducted a systematic literature review. Following established systematic literature review methods, I gathered and synthesized a small body of literature regarding the impact of informal engineering experiences on pre-college students' engineering identity development. The synthesis revealed that informal experiences appear to have a positive impact on participant's engineering identity, however, little is known about how the impact may vary by program or participant characteristics. Using these results, directions and recommendations for future research was proposed. For the informal engineering experience, two Girl Scout troops, one which met completely online and one which met in a hybrid setting, completed a Girl Scout engineering badge. Fifteen participants completed pre- and post-interviews, and observations of participants were conducted during the badge activities. In addition, participants completed the Draw-an-Engineer Test before the pre-interview and a modified version of the Draw-an-Engineer Test before the post-interview. Data analysis indicated that there was so (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, University of Toledo, 2020, Mechanical Engineering

A MacCormack type artificial dissipation operator has been formulated based on the dissipation portion of a 2N storage MacCormack time marching scheme. This new dissipation operator will reduce to a standard even derivative dissipation operator on a uniform grid and will satisfy the metric invariants of transformation on a non-uniform grid. The MacCormack scheme is an inherent dissipation scheme which uses alternate biased spatial stencils in time marching stages to provide dissipation at the end of each time step. Unlike MacCormack scheme, MacCormack type artificial dissipation can be used in each stage of a time step with a central spatial differencing scheme. In this thesis, MacCormack dissipation is derived and modified for 2D Euler equations. Then the resulting dissipation scheme is validated on two dimensional unsteady inviscid fow problem which is taken from High Order CFD (HiOCFD) workshop problems.

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2016, Secondary Education

Few studies have focused on perceptions of creativity in engineering. Previous researchers have tended to focus on perceptions concerning the degree to which creative thinking is emphasized in the classroom, rather than on whether students value creativity as an important part of the engineering design process. Moreover, the relationship between students' perceptions of the importance of creative thinking in engineering design and their creative performance has not been investigated. Given the value placed on the ability of an engineer to think creatively, it is important to understand how engineering students perceive creativity as it relates to the engineering design process and whether such perceptions have the potential to influence their ability to think creatively during the engineering design process. In this mixed-methods study, perceptions related to four primary themes: students' perceptions of (a) the definition of creativity with respect to engineering design, (b) the importance of creativity during engineering design, (c) the extent to which creativity was developed throughout the engineering program, and (d) their own creative abilities. Themes were compared among eight engineering students who scored at the extreme ends of the Creative Engineering Design Assessment (CEDA). In addition, perceptions were gathered from 12 mechanical engineering faculty in order to compare their perceptions of creativity in the mechanical engineering program to those of the students. The findings of this study support predictions made by applying the expectancy-value theory, which holds that students who value creativity in engineering design and confidently believe they have the ability to be creative are more likely to be creative in various engineering design scenarios. Further, all students interviewed shared the perception that the mechanical engineering program did little to encourage and develop creative-thinking skills; however, students agreed the program (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Civil Engineering

The construction of ancient monuments, such as the Colosseum (Coliseum) of Rome, was an enigmatic and complex process that has never been explored. Most sources about the largest ancient amphitheater focus on the historical and archaeological aspects. This dissertation seeks to elaborate on the construction methods of the Colosseum using engineering principles, based on which a digital reconstruction of the most likely of these methods in the form of a virtual-reality simulation – a process that has never been attempted before in the construction study of this ancient monument – was created. This dissertation presents a state-of-the-art and comprehensive exploration of the construction of the Colosseum, deriving and compiling information from both personal observations and a number of different historical and archaeological sources as well as findings from the monument itself. The construction processes of the Colosseum can be divided into five distinct stages: the pre-plan and plan, which details how the site of the construction was selected and drafted; the substructure, involving an analysis the best and safest alternative for constructing the foundation of the building; the hypogea or underground chambers, which provide chambers beneath the arena to house the gladiators and other contestants; the superstructure, the majority of the building which could have been built in several different ways, each of which consists of a number of organized stages; and the velarium, or roof awning, which can be installed in several different ways, resulting in different ranges of protection from the weather. After the different construction methods that may be employed for all of these stages are compared, a number of possible pathways of construction are established, and one of them is selected as the most plausible given the construction practices of the ancient Romans. The findings of the construction methods of such a majestic structure are not complete without simulation (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2010, Biomedical Engineering

Assistive devices, such as motor neuroprostheses, have been developed to help restore function for individuals with tetraplegia. For individuals with severe paralysis, command sources for assistive devices are limited to muscle activity and/or movements of the head and face. These commands can impede eating, talking, and other activities. Incorporating signals from the brain may be a valuable way to augment the command options for complex devices. The attempted movements of body parts generate characteristic changes in field potentials over brain areas associated with those body parts. These movement-related changes can be recorded from the scalp and used to control an assistive device. Most previous studies using movement-related field potentials as a command source have been focused on the abstract control of computer cursors and not specifically focused on restoring arm and hand function using neuroprostheses. We developed new spatial filtering techniques to help separate the cortical activities associated with the movement and rest of different body parts. Using these novel spatial filters, we demonstrated that two-dimensional movement of a ‘virtual upper-extremity neuroprosthesis' can be controlled using electroencephalography (EEG) signals that are modulated by the attempted movement of two body parts which are spread apart in the motor homunculus (i.e. hand and feet). The attempted movement of the feet and hand was an abstract command strategy using body parts unrelated to the desired device movement. A more natural command strategy of using the attempted movements of arm and hand joints was evaluated as a more intuitive way to control the same joints of the neuroprosthesis. Using a more natural command strategy, we demonstrated that individuals with tetraplegia were able to intuitively control the grasp of a virtual hand using movement-related field potentials associated with hand extension and relaxation. When expanding intuitive control to combinations of (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1968, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2024, Civil Engineering

Conventional lateral force resisting systems such as steel concentrically-braced frame (CBF) and steel moment resisting frames (MRFs) are designed for life safety performance during the design basis earthquake (DBE). The main properties of a CBF system are that it is economical and has considerable strength and stiffness. The system, however, has limited system ductility capacity prior to brace buckling. To remedy the systems shortcoming, A seismic resistant self-centering rocking core with buckling restrained columns (SC-RC-BRC) system, based on a self-centering CBF system, was developed by (Blebo & Roke, 2018) to withstand seismic lateral forces while limiting residual drift and structural damage. The system consists of steel members in a CBF configuration with buckling restrained columns (BRCs) at the first story level. The system can self-center due in part to post-tensioning (PT) bars located vertically along the external columns of the system. The system has suffers from under-predicting the design demand. This dissertation studies the effectiveness of the design demand procedure and two design demand approaches to improve design demand calculations. (1) load factor manipulation (Cline, 2021) and (2) Modified Modal Superposition (MMS) (Martin & Deierlein, 2021). This dissertation investigates multiple frames design demand, under multiple design procures. Overall results show an improvement in member desing demand predictions , some members were overdesigned.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Chemical Engineering

The ill effects of climate change are unfolding in real time, as species and ecosystems face irreversible destruction. Climate action is needed now more than ever, as ambitious targets set by the Paris Agreement seem far-reaching in the wake of global average temperatures above 1.5C over their pre-industrial levels recorded over a continuous 12 month period for the first time. Countries, organizations, and companies alike have pledged to limit their net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the environment to zero, via nationally determined contributions and corporate net-zero commitments. Such commitments remain unattainable in the absence of guidance like convergent carbon accounting methods, systems models, and roadmapping frameworks. This dissertation seeks to bridge this gap for the chemicals and materials industry (CMI). The chemical industry generates the “hardest to abate” emissions among the industrial sector due to the fixed carbon content of its products. However, as chemical energy carriers such as hydrogen and methanol gain prominence as solutions to the intermittency issues of renewable energy, the net-zero transition of chemicals becomes tied to the net-zero goals of more expansive and ubiquitous industries such as the power sector. The decarbonization of chemicals to this end, requires estimation of material and carbon flows, and baseline emissions of its current global operations. The frameworks in literature lack appropriate structure and comprehensiveness for such analysis, and relevant process and price data are inaccessible and cost prohibitive. We therefore develop an inventory of first principle based, mass balance compliant, publicly available process and cost data for CMI processes, sourced from the public domain. We devise a regression framework capable of handling conflict ridden data, and an algorithm to map resource, intermediate, product, and emission flows of any chemical system with known product capacities. The resulting Global (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering, Youngstown State University, 2024, Materials Science

Semiconductor materials have played a huge role in advancing today's technology through the electronic and photonic devices ushered in over the years. The advancement has been driven in part by society's growing need for electronic devices capable of handling higher power, higher temperature, and higher frequency. Current research efforts are expanding to ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors such as gallium oxide Ga2O3). The principal goal of this dissertation is to obtain high quality β-Ga2O3 films with controlled conductivity by magnetron sputtering deposition. The specific objectives are the following: To grow β-Ga2O3 films on sapphire substrates (section 5.2) and on native β-Ga2O3 by rf sputtering (section 5.3), to produce doped and undoped β-Ga2O3 films (Section 5.4). Additionally, to grow Lu2O3/ Ga2O3 and B2O3/Ga2O3 alloy films on (-2 0 1) UID or Sn-doped Ga2O3 and Al2O3 substrates to tune Ga2O3 original bandgap (Section 5.5). To obtain microstructural, morphological, compositional, and optical data from XRD, AFM, SEM, EDS, and UV-Vis characterization methods for all the experiments mentioned above. From this data, correlate the effects of the varying parameters for the optimization of the films, to use the developed films to fabricate Schottky barrier diodes and proceed with the electrical characterization of the fabricated devices (section 5.6).

Master of Science, Miami University, 2023, Chemical, Paper and Biomedical Engineering

Microbial bioproduction offers several advantages compared to traditional chemical synthesis, including renewable substrates, enzymatic catalysis, and processing under labile conditions. We hypothesize that sigma factors, naturally used by cells to shift metabolic states, can be used similarly to direct expression and resources toward heterologous pathways. We have investigated this competition through the controlled and induced expression of non-native, alternative sigma factors B, G, and F from B. subtilis in E. coli. Our results indicate a decrease in cellular growth amount as measured using optical density for all three sigma factors when produced from a pBAD24 plasmid. We believe decreases in cell growth are due to sigma factor competition for RNA polymerase resources, with the highest competition observed in stationary phase. Sigma factor F had the largest impact on cellular growth in the exponential phase. Over-expression of an anti-sigma factor for the E. coli housekeeping sigma factor did not result in changes in cellular growth, indicating simple addition of this protein does not impact competition for RNAP.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Engineering Education

One important step that engineering students take during their engineering journey is selecting a discipline of engineering to major in or specialize in. Some programs have students make this choice before entering the university, while others admit students to Colleges of Engineering and then choose their major after they arrive. While both the student and engineering program play a role in the student finding and entering a major after university admittance, sometimes the processes that programs use to help students enter a major can act as a barrier or potential instance where students may not feel the belong in engineering if they are not able to enter the major they selected. My research aimed to better understand how a major application processes can affect student motivation to persist in engineering. I employed a mixed methods design to study the different aspects of a major application processes used in the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University. First, I explored quantitative data on how students navigate this major application process by examining which majors they were selecting, if they were likely to switch pre-majors, and how these decisions related to their sensitivity to rejection. Next, I explored quantitative data on which students were getting into their first-choice major and which were not, as well as how strongly students' grades predicted the outcome of their applications. Then, I used qualitative data from interviews with students that did not get into their first-choice major to examine what they believe affected the outcome and their next steps, as well as integrating their quantitative sensitivity to rejection to explore how their experiences may differ related to this measure. Through this research, I was able to investigate how students decided whether to reapply to their first-choice major, accept a different major, or leave engineering. My research helped to identify what support these students used when making thes (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2023, Chemical Engineering

Decision making and optimization are core aspects of many real-world engineering problems, ranging from process optimization to experimental design. Many of these systems are black-box and expensive to evaluate which causes many traditional optimization methods to be difficult to implement in these systems. Additionally, many systems experience heteroskedastic noise when collecting data which many optimization strategies can not account for. Bayesian optimization has successfully been able to use surrogate models to create an easier to optimize system which can be updated by introducing new samples. Bayesian optimization requires the use of surrogate models, most commonly Gaussian processes, to model the sampled data, and acquisition functions to find optimal locations for sampling new points. Traditional Gaussian processes have been unable to heteroskedastic noise in data which led to the development of the heteroskedastic Gaussian processes (HGP). These HGPs are capable of properly accounting for noise in the data and can make more accurate predictions on regions without samples. Acquisition functions however have difficulty handling noise, and the most capable of handling this noise, knowledge gradient, is difficult to optimize and evaluate. This thesis focuses on a new method for implementing knowledge gradient and using knowledge gradient for enhanced decision making. In order to ensure global optimality of the knowledge gradient function, grid based methods generally must be implemented which are inefficient and lead to gaps in the sampling space. A new method, neural network knowledge gradient (NNKG), uses randomly generated initial sampling data to more efficiently explore the sample space and interpolate between samples. This method when compared to the traditional method also allows for enhanced visualization of the knowledge gradient surface which allows for greater understanding in regions of value and enhanced decision making on where to sample next (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2023, Biomedical Engineering

Development of Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts (TEVG's) for use in treatment of pediatric cardiovascular disease offer a promising alternative to current synthetic graft models, which typically result in the patient needing additional surgeries to correct for complications related to the inability of these grafts to assimilate into the body. Understanding this potential for TEVG performance improvement, we saw opportunity in optimizing the scaffolds design. Herein, we utilized an accelerated degradation mechanism in a basic environment to begin to characterize the degradation space of our six novel scaffold variants: comparing their microstructure, chemical composition, and mechanical integrity at nine different timepoints (Day 0 (control), 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9) to our clinical TEVG scaffold. Current analyses have shown differing chemical compositions of PGA, PLA, and PCL for each scaffold at baseline (day 0), as well as similarities and differences between mechanical and microstructural characteristics of each scaffold variant. While initial degradation of samples is complete, data collection and analysis for this study is ongoing. Once complete, this data will be applied to a multiscale fluid-solid growth (mFSG) computational model that can identify future scaffold designs for optimizing the microstructure, degradation rate, and mechanical profile of the TEVG polymeric scaffold.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2023, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Injection molding is one of the most common and effective manufacturing processes used to produce plastic products and impacts industries around the world. However, injection molding is a complex process that requires careful consideration of several key control variables. These variables and how they are utilized have a great effect on the resulting parts of any particular molding operation. It is vital that the bounds of each control process variable or CPV be analyzed and defined to ensure manufacturing success and produce injected molded parts efficiently and effectively. One such method in which the key CPV of an injection molding operation can be optimized is through the development of a process window. Once developed, operating CPV at values within the boundaries of the window or region will allow a molder to consistently produce parts that comply with the desired performance measures, promoting a stable manufacturing process. Through the use of experimental research, not only was an injection molding process window for one particular molding operation developed but a methodology in which similar windows could be created for other molding operations is also presented. The use of the suggested strategies may allow other molders to develop process windows of their own in a more standardized way and allow them to mold with higher quality standards at increased consistency.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2023, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Deploying new automated or autonomous capabilities has become increasingly prevalent, transforming everyday practices. With the transformation comes increased complexity and the need for appropriate safety evaluations of automated systems. The introduction of novel capabilities can have significant implications for the behavior of the automated system, ultimately adding to the system's complexity and making it challenging to foresee and evaluate potential safety issues. The goal of this work is to provide processes for designers/engineers to recognize when safety cases need to be revised. To achieve this objective, the thesis develops a visual representation and framework that supports determining whether safety cases are sufficient. The visual representation reveals several risks associated with automation and design considerations that support human-automation interactions. The framework will encompass resilience engineering concepts through the evaluation of evidence regarding the system's reliability, robustness, and resilience. This will assist in providing designers/engineers with the ability to recognize potential risks within the system and whether claims are sufficiently backed by evidence. The visual representation and framework are applied to an aviation scenario that exhibits the processes designers/engineers need to consider. Findings from this process can support further improvements in the design and safety of complex automated systems.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Chemical Engineering

A significant flaw of current sustainability assessment methods is their lack of simultaneously capturing the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability. This has led to many incomplete evaluations of current processes and their effects on ecological systems. Additionally, traditional chemical process design has been ignoring the supply and limits of ecological systems to provide goods such as materials and energy and services such as water provisioning and pollution mitigation. By doing so, most engineering designs had a significant role in ecosystem degradation due to surpassing their limits. Studies focusing on working with nature and including ecosystems in process design have shown promising results. However, there needs to be more implementation of these solutions in practice and the engineering discipline. Moreover, sustainable process design and current sustainability evaluation methods ignore the effects on social systems and their associated costs. This thesis contributes a novel approach to sustainable design, bridging the gap between theoretical and practical work by developing accessible tools and modules for ecological systems as unit operations in simulation software. For example, we have developed a module for constructed wetlands in the chemical simulation software CHEMCAD to assess the viability of integration between technology and ecological systems, resulting in very beneficial designs. Furthermore, we have expanded the unit operation library by developing a module for the vegetation ecosystem for carbon sequestration and air quality regulation. Including ecological models within simulation software enables others to explore innovative designs by working with nature. Furthermore, the generality of the modules allows the implementation of different processes and applications relative to the chemical industry. This work improves current sustainability assessment methods to attain more holistic evaluations by accounti (open full item for complete abstract)