Iman Abavisani, Civil and Environmental Engineering
"Uncovering How Corrosion-Free Reinforcement Bonds with Concrete—and Why It Matters"
Advisor: Christian Carloni
Iman Abavisani is a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research investigates bond behavior between concrete and glass fiber reinforced polymer bars, and how to reduce long-term deflection of concrete elements containing these bars. After he graduates, he plans to work in industry or a research-driven organization, where he can apply his expertise in experiment, data analysis, coding, and computational modeling.
Olatunde Akanbi, Materials Science and Engineering
“Turning $40 Billion Agricultural Waste into Resources”
Advisor: Roger French
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7719-2619
Olatunde D. Akanbi is a PhD candidate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. His research develops machine learning and distributed computing systems that transform agricultural and municipal waste into valuable resources, analyzing 30 years of data across thousands of counties to identify circular economy opportunities worth billions. After graduating in 2026, he seeks data science or machine learning engineering roles in industry, where he is excited to build production systems that create measurable environmental and economic impact at scale.
Ridaa Ali, Electrical Engineering
"Integrated Medical Robotics–MRI System"
Advisor: M. Cenk Çavuşoğlu
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6975-5311
Ridaa Z. Ali is a PhD candidate in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Her research focuses on medical robotics, including bridging medical robotics and interventional MRI. After graduation, she is excited to pursue a career in industry research and development, working and collaborating at the intersection of multiple fields to innovate novel solutions to challenging problems.