Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 2000.  After his Ph.D., Dr. Lee broadened his expertise in intelligent controls as Senior Research Engineer at Saint-Gobain leading a research team on intelligent control systems and data mining. In 2004, Dr. Lee joined the Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department at the University of Michigan-Dearborn where he is currently a Professor. Dr. Lee’s research goal is to make fundamental advances in reduced-order modeling, estimation, control, and optimization techniques and explore their applications in developing cost-effective solutions for sustainable and eco-friendly manufacturing and energy industries. 

Professor Lee's website

Linkedin

cheol@umich.edu

Dr. Oleg Zikanov is a leading expert in computational fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and magnetohydrodynamics, with a focus on hydrodynamic instabilities, thermal convection, and turbulence. His research also advances liquid metal technologies for energy applications. He holds a Ph.D. in Fluid Dynamics and Plasma Physics from Moscow State University and the Institute for Problems in Mechanics RAS, as well as an M.S. in Mechanics from Moscow State University. Dr. Zikanov’s work bridges theoretical and applied sciences, contributing to innovations in fluid dynamics and energy systems. Currently, he serves as a professor and chair of the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. 

Professor Zikanov's website

Linkedin

zikanov@umich.edu

Kirk Dolan’s degrees are in Agricultural Engineering from U. FL (B.S.), U. CA Davis (M.S.), and MSU (Ph.D.) He worked for Pharmaceutical & Food Specialists (San Jose, CA) from 1993-1999 as their representative in China and in the Asian region. He has been a faculty member at MSU since 2000, and has joint appointments in Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (lead), and Department of Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering. His research is on modeling effects of thermal processing on safety and quality of foods, and on inverse problems and parameter estimation.

MSU page

dolank@msu.edu

Dr. Sanghyup Jeong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at Michigan State University (MSU), affiliated with both the College of Engineering and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Biosystems Engineering from MSU in 2005 and 1997, respectively, and holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kangwon National University in South Korea, obtained in 1993. Dr. Jeong is also a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.) in Michigan. His research focuses on developing nonthermal and thermal intervention technologies, microbial modeling, and process optimization techniques to mitigate foodborne disease risks. 

MSU page

jeongsa1@msu.edu 

Minh Pham

Minh Pham is a first-year PhD student in Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. His research focuses on advanced process control and optimization for industrial applications, particularly in food production and intelligent manufacturing systems. He holds an MEng in Industrial Engineering from the Oregon State University, an MBA from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, and a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University. Throughout his career, he has integrated industrial engineering principles with data-driven methodologies to drive innovation in both technical and organizational systems.

LinkedIn

minhpham@umich.edu

Anmol Kaur Gill

Anmol is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering at Michigan State University. She is co-advised by Dr. Kirk Dolan and Dr. Sanghyup Jeong. She holds an MS degree from the Ohio State University, Columbus and a BTech from Punjab Agricultural University, India. Her research focuses on developing a coupled heat and mass transfer model to study food drying, safety, and quality - specifically for convective drying of apple slices in a pilot-scale impingement oven.

Linkedin

gillanm3@msu.edu

Jihuyk Jeong

Jihyuk (Kevin) Jeong is a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant at the University of Michigan, focusing on the development of a Reduced Order Model (ROM) for a food-drying process using a JSO II Oven. He holds dual Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Université de Sherbrooke and Thermique-Energétique from INSA Lyon. His research interests lie in advancing the understanding of fluid mechanics, with a particular focus on turbulent flows and computational fluid mechanics. Throughout his academic career, Jihyuk has gained extensive hands-on experience in studying turbulent flows and modeling them through both experimental methods and numerical simulations.

Linkedin

Website