Students & alumni

Building-energy simulation, thermal comfort, and mechanical-system design.

AlumniPh.D.

Daniel Alejandro Dalgo

Director, Energy & Engineering Program · LifeBridge Health

Daniel Alejandro Dalgo is Director of the Energy and Engineering Program at LifeBridge Health, where he leads energy management, operational-efficiency and resilience work across more than three million square feet of healthcare facilities. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and also teaches part time at Montgomery College. Daniel earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland under Dr. Jelena Srebric, developing and evaluating personalized cooling systems that improve occupant comfort while reducing building energy demand.

Hamed Sobhani earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland under Dr. Jelena Srebric. His dissertation developed a framework for modeling airborne-virus transmission risk in controlled exposure studies. His research combines multizone airflow modeling, computational fluid dynamics, computer vision and germicidal-ultraviolet design data to connect room-scale aerosol transport with person-specific exposure. His work includes the multidisciplinary EMIT-2 influenza program, quarantine-hotel air-cleaning research and a comprehensive review of ultraviolet inactivation constants.

Jeffrey Daniel Rosenzweig earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland under Dr. Jelena Srebric. At City@UMD, his work contributed to research on healthier and more sustainable built environments, with attention to public-transportation ventilation, filtration and exposure. He also participated in the National Academies workshop on air quality in transit buses, helping connect engineering research with practical transportation needs.

AlumniPh.D.

Lingzhe Wang

Faculty Researcher · University of Maryland

Lingzhe Wang is a City@UMD researcher whose work advances occupant-oriented control of indoor environments. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland under Dr. Jelena Srebric. His research integrates indoor air quality, aerosol transport, thermal comfort, physiological sensing, building controls and artificial intelligence. His recent work evaluates small and large language models for physiologically aware personal conditioning systems while continuing broader research on healthier, more responsive buildings.

AlumniPh.D.

Matthew Galen Dahlhausen

Commercial Buildings Research Engineer · National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Matthew Galen Dahlhausen is a Commercial Buildings Research Engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He develops building-stock models, calibration methods and analysis tools that help evaluate energy-saving technologies and decarbonization strategies at scale. Matthew earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland under Dr. Jelena Srebric, where he studied the measurements needed to calibrate whole-building energy models and improve load forecasts.

Heat and mass transfer in green roofs and building-energy modeling.

AlumniPh.D.

Sebastian Romo

Senior AI Engineer · EY

Sebastian Romo is a Senior AI Engineer in the AI and Data practice at EY, where he designs and implements artificial-intelligence solutions across industries. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland under Dr. Jelena Srebric. At City@UMD, Sebastian built desalination simulation tools, led development of a wearable micro air cleaner and contributed to research spanning machine learning, thermal systems, public health and product design.

AlumniDoctoral research

Xiaojie Lin

Distinguished Associate Research Fellow & Doctoral Supervisor · Zhejiang University

Xiaojie Lin is an Associate Research Fellow in the College of Energy Engineering at Zhejiang University. His current research addresses smart and integrated energy systems, district energy and energy-efficient buildings. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, where his work experimentally evaluated and modeled variable-refrigerant-flow systems, improved EnergyPlus representations and studied phase-change thermal storage for demand response.

Building-energy simulation, occupancy schedules, and measured electricity use.

AlumniMaster’s research

Avery Layne

PhD Student · University of Maryland

Avery Layne is a City@UMD alumnus and a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland. During his time with City@UMD, his research focused on building-energy analysis, campus energy efficiency and practical approaches for reducing energy use in the built environment. A University of Maryland mechanical engineering alumnus and Engineer-in-Training, Avery has also held national leadership roles with the National Society of Black Engineers and is committed to engineering education and mentorship.

Dheeraj Parsa is a master's alumnus of City@UMD. His public professional profile lists him as an Energy Engineer at Siemens, with CEM and CMVP credentials.

Harshil Nagda is a Buildings Research Engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. His work advances building-performance analysis, energy modeling and scalable methods for evaluating energy-efficiency opportunities. At the University of Maryland, he developed a reduced-order modeling method for rapidly estimating retrofit savings across building portfolios under the guidance of Dr. Jelena Srebric.

AlumniMaster’s research

Itohan Omisi Ebhojiaye

Heat Exchanger Specialist · ExxonMobil

Itohan Omisi Ebhojiaye is a Heat Exchanger Specialist at ExxonMobil. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland. Her City@UMD thesis used the open-source VOLTTRON platform to manage rooftop HVAC equipment in a commercial building without a conventional building automation system, demonstrating a practical approach to reducing unnecessary cooling energy and operating costs.

HVAC system selection and energy use in high-performance office buildings.

AlumniMaster’s research

Michael Raad

The George Washington University

Michael Raad earned his master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland after completing undergraduate study at the American University of Beirut. At City@UMD, he worked on the CDC-supported wearable micro air cleaner, contributing to design iterations and experimental testing of a device intended to deliver filtered air near a wearer's breathing zone. His background spans thermal-fluid sciences, energy systems and applied product development.

Pranav Shinde is a master's alumnus of City@UMD whose work focused on experimental indoor air quality and air-cleaning performance. His documented contributions include air-change measurements for clean air delivery rate (CADR) experiments and sound-level measurements of filtration systems. His archived contributions also include a MATLAB ventilation-analysis tool that processes carbon dioxide measurements, estimates air changes per hour from concentration decay, and visualizes ventilation-rate results. This work supported the center's evaluation of ventilation and air-cleaning systems.

Saber Khoshdel Nikkho is a licensed Mechanical Engineer at Amazon Web Services with experience in HVAC, mission-critical facilities, building-performance consulting and energy modeling. He holds LEED AP BD+C and ASHRAE building-energy modeling credentials. At the University of Maryland, his City@UMD research combined computational fluid dynamics, field measurements and calibrated building-energy simulation to quantify how urban wind sheltering changes building performance.

Samhitha Reddy Gontu is a Supply Chain Consultant at Scott Sheldon LLC. She earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and completed graduate study in supply chain management at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. Her work applies data analysis, business-process design and planning technology to improve complex operational systems, extending the interdisciplinary and systems-oriented perspective she brought to City@UMD.

Sara T. Jenkins completed a graduate thesis in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland under Dr. Jelena Srebric. Her research examined how dormitory ventilation affects airborne transmission of respiratory illness. Using a network of 147 carbon-dioxide sensors and multizone ventilation models, she compared fresh-air delivery and illness incidence across two residence halls with different HVAC systems. This work helped connect measurable building operation with occupant health outcomes.

Urban density, neighborhood microclimates, and building HVAC performance.

AlumniMaster’s research

Yujian Zhao

Software Engineer Intern · Cylerian

Yujian Zhao is a University of Maryland computer science alumnus whose work with City@UMD supported research software, database development and data-intensive engineering workflows. His background includes Python, Java, JavaScript, SQL, machine learning, backend development and human-computer interaction. He has applied these skills in software engineering while continuing to build tools that make complex data and models easier to use.

AlumniUndergraduate research

Hevander Da Costa

Tradible

Hevander Da Costa is a University of Maryland alumnus whose City@UMD research connected physics, computing and data science with indoor-air science. He contributed computational analysis and visualization to research on aerosol plumes from singing and wind instruments and to later work on ultraviolet air-disinfection design data. His technical interests include data science, machine learning, scientific computing and turning complex measurements into understandable evidence.

AlumniUndergraduate research

Lauren Murphy

Engineer-in-Training · HDR

Lauren Murphy is an Engineer-in-Training at HDR working at the intersection of mechanical engineering, building design and sustainability. She earned her Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Maryland with minors in Sustainability Studies and Spanish and completed the Design Cultures and Creativity honors program. Her City@UMD experience supported her interest in improving the built environment through practical, interdisciplinary design.

AlumniUndergraduate research

Nicholas Rabchevsky

Engineer · Ford Motor Company

Nicholas Rabchevsky is a University of Maryland mechanical engineering alumnus working at Ford Motor Company. His engineering background includes computer-aided design, product development, prototyping and vehicle systems. At City@UMD, he contributed mechanical design experience to the wearable micro air cleaner project, which was recognized as a finalist for the University of Maryland Invention of the Year award.

AlumniUndergraduate research

Sabrina Eason

Mechanical Engineer-in-Training · Wiley|Wilson

Sabrina Eason is a Mechanical Engineer-in-Training at Wiley|Wilson and a University of Maryland mechanical engineering alumna. Her professional work supports engineered building systems, while her early research experience at City@UMD introduced her to collaborative work on sustainable and healthy indoor environments. She brings together mechanical design, building-systems thinking and a commitment to practical engineering solutions.

Abigail Tsegaye is a City@UMD high school research alumna from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland. Her 2025-2026 project examined classroom carbon dioxide and student performance. Abigail helped assemble an environmental sensing platform and enclosure, conducted controlled chamber sessions with five participants, and compared cognitive-test performance under lower and higher carbon dioxide conditions. Her research board presented the preliminary statistical findings with appropriate attention to sample size, participant differences and the need for improved experimental controls.

Angie Ramirez-Alvarez is a City@UMD high school research alumna from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland. Her 2025-2026 research examined environmental conditions and physiological response during physical activity. Angie built a portable Hedgehog logger integrating carbon dioxide, particulate matter, temperature and humidity sensing with an ESP32 and display. She then tested the platform in controlled chamber conditions, compared it with commercial reference instruments and analyzed wearable measurements to evaluate preliminary relationships among carbon dioxide, activity and physiological response.

Charles Ehrenreich is a City@UMD high school research alumnus from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland. During the 2025-2026 research experience, he studied activity-driven physiological responses to environmental conditions in gyms. Charles collected and processed 32 data sets from three participants across three gym-like environments, examined heart-rate variability alongside volatile organic compounds and light, and used ARIMA time-series analysis to separate activity effects from environmental signals. His research board also documented sensor limitations and practical directions for future studies.

Immanuel Mateo is a City@UMD high school research alumnus from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland. His 2025-2026 project investigated whether carbon dioxide could serve as a proxy for fine particulate matter. Immanuel deployed Hedgehog, Aranet and PurpleAir instruments, cleaned and calibrated indoor and outdoor measurements, aligned multiple sensor records and performed correlation analysis. His results supported the practical recommendation that carbon dioxide and PM2.5 should be monitored with separate sensors because they describe different indoor-air processes.

Joshua Akolly is a City@UMD high school research alumnus whose project examined air infiltration and carbon dioxide in a multi-family residential building. He calibrated and deployed Aranet4 sensors, monitored a busy holiday week and a regular week, logged occupancy and window and door use, and used time-series plots and carbon-dioxide decay calculations to estimate ventilation performance. His work connected field measurements with a practical question about whether uncontrolled infiltration can maintain healthy indoor-air conditions during periods of occupancy.

AlumniHigh school research

Onyedika Okwesili

High School Research Alumni · Eleanor Roosevelt High School

Onyedika Okwesili is a City@UMD high school research alumnus from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland. His 2025-2026 project investigated physiological responses to environmental temperature. Onyedika designed and fabricated a wearable prototype combining pulse and temperature sensors, assessed photoplethysmography signal quality in Python, compared wrist-placement conditions and developed preliminary personal thermal-comfort models with linear regression. His research board clearly identified hardware limitations and proposed an improved sensing design for future work.

Architectural engineering and mechanical-system design for the Try Street Terminal Building.

Mechanical building systems, energy modeling, and moisture analysis for the Eberly Campus Community Center.