People

The people behind the research

11 investigators and 37 postdoctoral researchers, students, and staff across eight institutions.

Investigators

Principal investigators and co-investigators

Portrait of Peng Wei

Peng Wei

Principal Investigator · Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

GWU

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Portrait of Gautam Biswas

Gautam Biswas

Co-Investigator · Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering

Vanderbilt

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Portrait of Vijay Gupta

Vijay Gupta

Site PI · Elmore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Purdue

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Portrait of Mahsa Ghasemi

Mahsa Ghasemi

Co-Investigator · Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Purdue

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Portrait of Ufuk Topcu

Ufuk Topcu

Site PI · Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

UT Austin

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Portrait of Amir Shirkhodaie

Amir Shirkhodaie

Site PI · Professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

TSU

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Isaac Amundson

Site PI · Senior Principal Trusted Systems Engineer

Collins

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Heber Herencia-Zapana

Co-Investigator

Collins

Portrait of Kwabena Konadu

Kwabena Konadu

Site PI · Discipline Chair, Cybersecurity

NVCC

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Researchers & students

Postdocs, students, and staff

GWU

The George Washington University

4 members

PhD students4

  • Iman Sharifi
  • Mahyar Ghazanfari
  • Aarifah Ullah
  • Dao Vu

Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt University

11 members

Postdoctoral researchers1

  • Abenezer Taye

PhD students5

  • Bryce Bjorkman
  • Noah Dahle
  • Abel Diaz-Gonzalez
  • Joel Isaacson
  • Cai Lemieux-Mack

Undergraduate researchers5

  • Bennett Davis
  • Samuel Gonzalez
  • Daniil Shatokhin
  • Jeremiah Webb
  • Stanley Zheng

Purdue

Purdue University

5 members

Postdoctoral researchers2

  • Shivam Bajaj
  • Ashwin Verma

PhD students3

  • Maheed Hatem Most Ahmed
  • Pranoy Das
  • Hyeong-Tae Kim

UT Austin

The University of Texas at Austin

6 members

Staff1

  • Meredith AlbersTechnical Project Manager

Postdoctoral researchers2

  • Filippos Fotiadis
  • Scott Yue Guan

PhD students3

  • Jaehan Im
  • Quentin Rommel
  • Jennifer Rozenblit

UC Irvine

University of California, Irvine

1 member

PhD students1

  • Junchi Lu

TSU

Tennessee State University

6 members

Postdoctoral researchers1

  • Branndon Jones

PhD students1

  • Mohammad Amin Hodaei

MS students3

  • Nischal Aryal
  • Kane Miller
  • Abdul Kareem Ras

Undergraduate researchers1

  • James McWilliams

NVCC

Northern Virginia Community College

4 members

Research interns4

  • Winston HarveySummer 2026
  • Brendan LunaSummer 2026
  • Vincenzo De RacoSummer 2026
  • Subaita SajjadSummer 2026

NASA

Program partners

  • Dennis IanniccaNASA Technical Monitor
  • Vincent VarouhNASA Technical Monitor, 2024–2025

Advisory board

External advisors

  • Charlie LeeperJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
  • Wes RyanNorthrop Grumman and ASTM
  • Hao RenHoneywell Aerospace
  • Tony BociL3Harris
  • Jordan CohenSkyGrid

Alumni

Former members

  • Xenofon KoutsoukosCo-Investigator · Vanderbilt
  • Robert CanadyPostdoctoral researcher · Vanderbilt
  • Austin CourseyPhD student · Vanderbilt
  • Patryk DobranowskiUndergraduate researcher · Vanderbilt
  • Amer IbrahimMS student · TSU
  • Saqib HasanCo-Investigator · Collins
  • Austin HolmesResearch intern (Summer 2025) · NVCC
  • Habibullah HusainResearch intern (Summer 2025) · NVCC
  • Mehreen KhanResearch intern (Summer 2025) · NVCC
  • Mohamed TahaResearch intern (Summer 2025) · NVCC