Principal Investigator

Dr. Subith Vasu
Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department | University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL | 2021-Present |
Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department | University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL | 2018-2021 |
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department | University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL | 2012-2018 |
Post Doctoral Appointee, Combustion Research Facility | Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA | 2010-2011 |
Post Doctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering | Stanford University, Stanford, CA | 2010-2010 |
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering (major) | Stanford University, Stanford, CA | 2004-2010 |
M.Tech, Aerospace Engineering | Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai, India | 2004 |
B.Tech, Aerospace Engineering | Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai, India | 2004 |
Post-Doctoral Researchers

Dr. Ramees Rahman
Assistant ProfessorHometown: Kerela, India

Dr. Justin Urso
Lab Manager
Hometown: Sparr, FL
Dr. Farhan Arafin
Lab Manager
Hometown: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dr. Ritesh Ghorpade
Graduate Students

Nicolas Berube
Lab Manager Hometown: Pembroke Pines, FL

Louis Vest
Lab Manager Hometown: Glendora, CA
Daniel Dyson
Hometown: Lehigh Acres, FL
Robert Greene

Nishan Khanal
Hometown: Columbia, MO
Marc Etienne

Jonathan McGaunn
Hometown: Naples, FL

Sydney Briggs
Hometown: Rome, NY
Juan Cruz Pellegrini
Hometown: Rosario, Argentina
Michael Pierro
Hometown: Tampa, FL
Jose Bobren-Diaz

Shubham Kesharwani
Hometown: Allahabad, India
Christopher Dennis

Louis Yovino
Hometown: Parkland, FL
Andrew DeRusha

Marzuqa Ahmed

Christopher Loving

Garrett Mastantuono

Priyankar Garai

Zuhayr Mohammed

David Zamora

Michelle Franzen
Hometown: Porto Alegre, Brazil
Shahzad Bobi
Hometown: Punjab, Pakistan
Marley Albright
Hometown: St. Augustine, FL
Hamil Patel
Hometown: Coral Springs, FL
Koby Rouviere
Hometown: Miami, FL
Anthony Aguilera
Hometown: Hialeah, FL
Nikolas Hulliger

Timothy Loye

Ahmed Safdari
Hometown: Mumbai, India
Alejandro Puerta-Alvardo

Diego Ruiz Pena

Bryan Suarez
Hometown: Orlando, FL
Lucas Pitts

Matthew Fraze

Kesly Lubin

Valerie Rodriguez

Tyler Kreucher

Oli Valenzuela

Zachary Morris
Hometown: Boynton Beach, FL
Fawzan Ahmed

Guillermo Barrios
Hometown: Caracas, Venezuela

Mikayla Lindsay

Sam Klopp
Hometown: Warrenton, Virginia

Braden Venger
Undergraduate Students

Gabriel Duany Izaguirre
Hometown: Miami, FL

Aaron Guenther

Allen Benarroch
Anya Ambarish
Hometown: Sterling, VA

Gesica Borecki

Rodrigo Yuraszeck
Hometown: Viña del Mar, Chile

Nathaniel Root
Hometown: Winter Garden, FL

Amanda Maia
Hometown: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Isabelle Kaltenbaugh

Jonathan Sanchez

Sreelekshmi Sreekumar

Jae Kim

Amelia Marty

Esteban Diaz-Rodriguez

Henry Mack

Colton Ashworth

Nicholas Walsh

Tomas Ruiz

Thinh Vo

Avril Elmer-Santiago
Vasu Lab Alumni
Post-Docs (15 Total)
Ph.D. Dissertations (22 total)
M.S. Thesis (33 Total)
REU Summer Interns and Vistors
Post-Docs (15 Total)
Name | Current Position |
---|---|
Dr. Carlos Velez | Research Engineer, GE Global Research Center, NY |
Dr. Batikan Köroğlu | Research Staff, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, CA |
Dr. Frank Barnes | R&D Engineer, Aerojet-Rocketdyne, Jupiter, FL |
Dr. Sergey V. Panteleev | Chief Engineer, Center of Metrology of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia |
Dr. Suhyeon Park | R&D Engineer, Samsung, Seoul, S. Korea |
Dr. Chun-Hung Wang | Faculty, Northland Pioneer College, AZ |
Dr. Raghu Veera Manikantachari Kancherla | Senior Combustion R&D Engineer, Power Systems Manufacturing (PSM), FL |
Dr. Erik Ninnemann | Test Engineer, SpaceX, TX |
Dr. Zachary Loparo | Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD), MD |
Dr. Kyle Thurmond | Staff Scientist at Los Alamos National Lab, NM |
Dr. Anthony Terracciano | Spacecraft Propulsion Engineer, The Boeing Company, FL |
Dr. Ramees Rahman | Research Assistant Professor, UCF |
Dr. Justin Urso | Research Assistant Professor, UCF |
Dr. Gihun Kim | Research Engineer, NSWC IHD, MD |
Dr. Cory Kinney | Aero Design Engineer – Combustion, Siemens Energy, FL |
Ph.D. Dissertations (22 total)
Name | Current Position |
---|---|
Prof. Ghazal Barari | Assistant Professor, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, AZ |
Dr. Carlos Velez | Research Engineer, General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, NY Founder and CEO, Deep Flow LLC |
Dr. Batikan Köroğlu | Staff Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Livermore, CA |
Dr. Anthony Terracciano | Spacecraft Propulsion Engineer, The Boeing Company, FL |
Prof. Bader Almansour | Assistant Professor, Automotive and Marine Department, The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Kuwait |
Dr. Owen Pryor | Research Engineer, Southwest Research Inst., TX |
Dr. Sneha Neupane | ABB Group, NC |
Dr. Raghu Veera Manikantachari Kancherla | Senior Combustion R&D Engineer, Power Systems Manufacturing (PSM), FL |
Dr. Samuel Barak | Boeing Space, FL |
Dr. Zachary Loparo | Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD), MD |
Dr. Gihun Kim | Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD), MD |
Dr. Kyle Thurmond | Staff Member at Los Alamos National Lab, NM |
Dr. Erik Ninnemann | Test Engineer, SpaceX, TX |
Dr. Andrew Laich | Propulsion Engineer, Blue Origin, Seattle, Washington |
Dr. Ramees Rahman | Post-Doc, Vasu Lab, UCF, FL |
Dr. Justin Urso | Post-Doc, Vasu Lab, UCF, FL |
Dr. Cory Kinney | Aero Design Engineer – Combustion, Siemens Energy, FL |
Dr. Christopher Arose | Post-Doc, Sandia National Lab, NM |
Dr. Farhan Arafin | Post-Doc, Vasu Lab, UCF, FL |
Dr. Jacklyn Higgs | Army Research Lab, MD |
Dr. Jessica Baker | Space Force Contractor/ULA, FL |
Dr. Ritesh Ghorpade | Post-Doc, Vasu Lab, FL |
M.S. Thesis (33 Total)
Name | Subsequent Position | |
---|---|---|
Luke Thompson | Lockheed Martin, Orlando, FL | |
Kyle Thurmond | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Owen Pryor | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Anthony Terracciano | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Joseph Lopez | NASA KSC, FL | |
Michael Villar | Engineer, Department of Defense, VA | |
Leigh Nash | Engineer, Mitsubishi Hitashi Power Systems Americas, Lake Mary, FL | |
Samuel Barak | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Akshita Parupalli | Engineer, Lockheed Martin SkunkWorks, Palmdale, CA | |
Erik Ninnemann | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Andrew Laich | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Cory Kinney | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Sami Alawadhi | Research Engineer, Kuwait Insitute of Scientific Research (KISR), Kuwait | |
Bader Almansour | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Robert Greene | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Daniel Dyson | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Jessica Baker | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Jacklyn Higgs | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Sydney Briggs | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Nicolas Berube | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Michael Pierro | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Nishan Khanal | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Jonathan McGaunn | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Christopher Loving | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Marc Etienne | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Juan Cruz Pellegrini | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
David Zamora | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Alex-Abraham Pothen | Aero Design Engineer – Combustion, Siemens Energy, FL | |
Zuhayr Pasha Mohammed | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Garrett Mastantuono | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Louis Yovino | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Timothy Loye | Continued PhD at UCF, FL | |
Christopher Dennis | Continued PhD at UCF, FL |
REU Summer Interns and Vistors
Name | Affiliation | Dates |
---|---|---|
Ladislav Vesely | Czech Technical University, Prague* | 2017 – 2018 |
Camille Phillips | NSF- REU, Georgia Southern University | Summer 2019 |
Marzuqa Ahmed | NSF – REU, New York University** | Summer 2021 |
Julia Kondrat’yev | NSF – REU, University of Western Florida | Summer 2022 |
Kesly Lubin | NSF – REU, University of Central Florida** | Summer 2023 |
Gabriela Rivas | NSF – REU, University of Central Florida | Summer 2023 |
Kevin Salazar Flores | NSF – REU, University of Central Florida | Summer 2023 |
Madeline Raynor | NSF – REU, University of Central Florida | Summer 2023 |
Julia Meredith | NSF – REU, University of Central Florida | Summer 2024 |
Prof. Rehab M. I. Elsamra | Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science,Alexandria University, Egypt | 2021 – 2023 |
*later joined UCF MAE department with CATER
**later joined Ph.D Program with PI