Current Fellows in the McDermott Graduate Fellows
The Fellows are distributed among UT Dallas’ schools in fields ranging from chemistry to neuroscience and management. Many hold federally funded research fellowships, including the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRF) and the National Institutes of Health’s National Research Service Award (NIH NRSA). Collectively, the Fellows have numerous academic publications and patents and several spin-out companies. Their research collaborations span the globe, and they have mentored countless research trainees.
Madigan Blake
Faculty Host: Kristina Butler, PhD
Madigan Blake earned a BS in geosciences from The University of Texas at Dallas (2023). She is pursuing a PhD in sustainable earth systems science. As a 2024 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardee, Madigan’s research involves lithium-enriched brine systems of North America.
Dan Bouzolin
Faculty Host: D. Todd Griffith, PhD
Dan Bouzolin earned a BS in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2023. Dan is pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering. His research focuses on developing new technologies for wind energy systems.
Wesley Brigner
Faculty Host: Joseph Friedman, PhD
Wesley Brigner graduated with a BS in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2020. He has been working for three years at Dr. Joseph Friedman’s NeuroSpinCompute Laboratory to develop next-generation hardware for machine learning systems and is a full member of the Sigma Xi research honors society. Wesley will continue his work as a PhD student and 2020 NSF Graduate Fellowship recipient.
Avamarie S. Brueggeman
Faculty Host: John H. L. Hansen, PhD
Ava Brueggeman graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 2018 with a BS in electrical engineering and a minor in computer science. She is currently pursuing a PhD in electrical engineering. A 2018 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardee, Ava studies digital signal processing for improving speech recognition in cochlear implant users.
Ilan Buzzetti
Faculty Host: Kevin W. Hamlen, PhD
Ilan Buzzetti earned a BS in computer science from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2018. He is pursuing a PhD in computer science. As a 2023 NSF CISE CSGrad4US Fellowship awardee, Ilan’s research involves bottom-up Formal Verification.
Dalton Cadieu
Faculty Host: Dong Qian, PhD
Dalton Cadieu earned a BS in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2024. He is pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering. Dalton’s research focuses on computational mechanics utilizing machine learning.
Samuel Cornelius
Faculty Host: Nicole De Nisco, PhD
Samuel Cornelius earned a BS in biology from St. Edward’s University (2019). He is pursuing a PhD in molecular and cell biology. A 2025 NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellow (F31, NIDDK), Samuel researches the impact of biological sex and menopause on the bladder immunological landscape and transcriptome.
Bo Couture
Faculty Host: Rudi Fasan, PhD
Bo Couture earned a BS in chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2021) and an MS in chemistry from the University of Rochester (2022). He is pursuing a PhD in chemistry. As a 2023 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardee, Bo’s research involves Biocatalytic C-H carbene insertion reactions using engineered and artificial metalloproteins (CYO119 and Myoglobin) for the functionalization of biologically relevant building blocks.
Satwik Dutta
Faculty Host: John H.L. Hansen, PhD
Satwik Dutta earned a B.Tech. in electronics & comm. engineering at the West Bengal University of Technology (2015) and an MS in electrical engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas (2020). Satwik is pursuing a PhD in electrical engineering. His research focuses on speech technology for early childhood language intervention. He is a 2023 Quad Fellow, a multinational scholarship program launched by the governments of Australia, India, Japan and the United States (the Quad).
Joel Jacobo Flores
Faculty Host: Kangkook Jee, PhD
Joel Jacobo Flores earned a BS in computer science from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2024. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science.
Chance Gammill
Faculty Host: Lakshman Tamil, PhD
Chance Gammill earned a BS in biomedical engineering from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2022. Chance is pursuing a PhD in biomedical engineering, researching 3D-super resolution ultrasound imaging.
Si “Shawn” Gao
Faculty Host: Steven Xiao, PhD
Si “Shawn” Gao earned a BEc in finance from Xiamen University (2022) and an MS in finance, quantitative track, from Washington University in St. Louis (2024). He is pursuing a PhD in management science with a concentration in finance. His research focuses on asset pricing, options market microstructure and machine learning applications in finance.
Sachin Giri
Faculty Host: Vladimir Gevorgyan, PhD
Sachin Giri earned a BS in chemistry from Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi (2016) and an MS in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (2018). He is pursuing a PhD in chemistry and biochemistry. Sachin researches visible light-induced synthetic methods with a particular focus on innovative radiofluorination techniques.
Simon Klancher
Faculty Host: Kangkook Jee, PhD
Simon Klancher earned a BS in computer science (2024) and an MPP (2025) at UT Dallas. He is pursuing a PhD in computer science. Simon researches systems security and system provenance-based intrusion detection.
Qihao Lai
Faculty Host: Steven Xiao, PhD
Qihao Lai earned a BS in financial management at the Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics (2021) and an MS in finance at the Peking University (2024). He is pursuing a PhD in management science, with a concentration in finance.
Xiuyao Lang
Faculty Host: Kyeongjae “KJ” Cho, PhD
Xiuyao Lang earned a BS in physics at Xiangtan University (2018) and an MS in Electronic Science and Technology at Nankai University (2021). Xiuyao is pursuing a PhD in materials science and engineering at UT Dallas.
Jiali Lei
Faculty Host: Chen Cao, PhD
Jiali Lei earned a BS in information management and information systems (2019) and an MS in biology and medicine (2023) from China Pharmaceutical University. She is pursuing a PhD in biomedical engineering. Jiali uses bioinformatics methods to research the molecular mechanisms and evolutionary trajectories underlying cell development.
Tianao Li
Faculty Host: Baowei Fei, PhD
Tianao Li earned a BS in biomedical engineering from Southeast University (2022) and an MS in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University (2024). He is pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Tianao researches the development of hyperspectral imaging systems for use in endoscopy and esophageal cancer diagnosis.
Medel B. Lim Suan Jr.
Faculty Host: Dave Dingal, Ph.D.
Medel Lim Suan earned a BS in molecular biology and biotechnology from the University of the Philippines – Diliman in 2016. Medel is pursuing a PhD in bioengineering, researching directed evolution of synthetic proteases.
Zheng Liu
Faculty Host: Vikram Nanda, PhD
Zheng Liu earned a BS in finance from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in 2017, and an MS in finance from the University of California – San Diego in 2018. He is currently pursuing a PhD in management science with a concentration in finance. Zheng’s research focuses on behavioral finance, asset pricing and portfolio selection.
Alexander Massoud
Faculty Host: Fabiano Rodrigues, PhD
Alexander Massoud earned a BS in physics at Ithaca College (2020). He is pursuing a PhD in physics. As a 2023 NDSEG Fellowship awardee, Alexander’s research involves modeling and ground-based measurements of the near-Earth space environment.
Anand Menon
Faculty Host: Kanad Basu, PhD
Anand Menon earned a BS in computer engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas (2023). He is concurrently pursuing an MS and PhD in computer engineering. Anand’s research focuses on large language models for hardware verification.
Soroush Mojtahedi
Faculty Host: Vikram Nanda, PhD
Soroush Mojtahedi earned a BS in electrical engineering at the University of Guilan (2012), an MBA at Sharif University of Technology (2018), and an MS in finance with a specialization in Corporate Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics (2021). Soroush is pursuing a PhD in finance.
Fateme Najafkhani
Faculty Host: Hongbing Lu, PhD
Fateme Najafkhani earned a BS (2018) and MS (2021) in material engineering at the University of Tehran. Fateme is pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering at UT Dallas. She will work on synthesis, characterization and modeling of polymeric aerogels with focus on multiphysics simulations.
Manifa Noor
Faculty Host: Kyeongjae “KJ” Cho, PhD
Manifa Noor earned a BS in materials and metallurgical engineering in 2017 and an MS in glass and ceramic engineering in 2020 from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Manifa is pursuing a PhD in materials science and engineering, researching next generation energy storage materials.
McKenna Pratt
Faculty Host: Katelyn Sadler, PhD
McKenna Pratt earned a BS in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of South Carolina Honors College (2023). She is pursuing a PhD in neuroscience. McKenna researches uterine neuron sensitivity and the vaginal microbiome in an endometriosis mouse model as well as menstruation-associated changes in sensation and uterine innervation.
Isaac Rangel
Faculty Host: Zachary Sickmann, PhD
Isaac Rangel earned a BS in geosciences from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2023. He is pursuing a PhD in geosciences. As a 2024 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardee, Isaac is researching tectonic controls on sediment dispersal patterns.
Zhiyuan Tang
Faculty Host: Ganesh Janakiraman, PhD
Zhiyuan Tang earned a B.Eng. in Automation at Tsinghua University (2023). She is pursuing a PhD degree in Operations Management. Her research focuses on machine learning methods for business decision-making that is theoretically explainable. She also is dedicated to using machine learning methods to make fair and reliable business decisions.
Minh H. Tran
Faculty Host: Baowei Fei, PhD
Minh Tran earned a BS in electrical engineering with a minor in computer science from the University of Wyoming in 2020. He is pursuing a PhD in bioengineering as he looks for new ways to diagnose diseases using biomedical imaging. Beyond science, he enjoys the visual arts of drawing and photography.
Alyssa Vellucci
Faculty Host: Justin Ruths, PhD
Alyssa Vellucci earned a BS in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2021. Alyssa is pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering with a focus on dynamic systems and control.
Benjamin Walker
Faculty Host: Joseph Friedman, PhD
Ben Walker earned a BS in electrical engineering and a BS in physics from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2019. He is pursuing a PhD in electrical engineering. As a 2023 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardee, Ben researches emerging technologies and materials to develop novel beyond-CMOS computing systems.
Hailey Welch
Faculty Host: Catherine Thorn, PhD
Hailey Welch earned a BS in chemical biosciences from the University of Oklahoma (2021). She is pursuing a PhD in systems and cellular neuroscience. A 2025 NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NSRA) Individual Predoctoral Fellow (F31, NIDDK), Hailey researches lateralized vagal reward signaling, integrating vagus nerve stimulation, transcriptomics and appetitive behaviors.
Josh Wiedemeier
Faculty Host: Kangkook Jee, PhD
Josh Wiedemeier earned a BS in computer science (2020) and an MS in computer science with a cybersecurity focus (2022) from The University of Texas at Dallas. Josh is pursuing a PhD in computer science, researching systems security and data driven security.
Isaac Wright
Faculty Host: Fabiano Rodrigues, PhD
Isaac Wright earned a BS in physics from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2022. Isaac is a 2022 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship winner and is pursuing a PhD in physics.
Zhaokun Xue
Faculty Host: Srinivasan Raghunathan, PhD
Zhaokun Xue earned a BA in mathematics and economics (2021) from The University of Texas at Austin. Zhaokun is pursuing a PhD in information systems.
Kyohei Yamada
Faculty Host: Vladimir Gevorgyan, PhD
Kyohei Yamada earned a BS in chemistry from Okayama University (2021). He is pursuing a PhD in chemistry. Kyohei researches synthetic methodology.