Current Ph.D. Students

David Okenwa, Ph.D. Student (2024-present)

David is a Ph.D. student in the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering (MIME) at Oregon State University, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nigeria in 2022. David currently serves as the Operations Manager for the Oregon State University Energy Efficiency Center, where he helps small and medium-scale manufacturers reduce energy use, reduce emissions, and increase productivity. His research interests include reverse logistics for electronic waste, energy efficiency, decarbonization, and energy-systems optimization.

Dare Idowu, Ph.D. Student (2024-present)

Dare is a Ph.D. student in the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (MIME) at Oregon State University majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He earned is B.Eng. in Biosystems Engineering from the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta in 2014 and his M.Sc. In Mechanical Engineering with a focus in Design and Production Engineering from the University of Lagos in 2021. He is currently working on developing manufacturing models for various manufacturing processes. His research interests include sustainable manufacturing, smart manufacturing and machine process optimization

Dolor Enarevba, Ph.D. Student (2022-present)

Dolor is a PhD student in the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering (MIME) at Oregon State University, majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Food Science and Technology. He is from Ughelli, Delta State in the Southern part of Nigeria, West Africa. He earned his B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Petroleum Resources in 2015 and his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Lagos in 2021. Additionally, he obtained another M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University in 2024 with a focus in Sustainability Engineering. Dolor is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt facilitator with over three years of experience in business excellence and process improvement within the food and packaging industry. His current research focuses on sustainable engineering, particularly in biomanufacturing, life cycle assessment of bio-based products, waste management, and emerging bio-based materials.

Eray Aksit, Ph.D. Student (2021-present)

Eray is pursuing a joint Ph.D. in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering at OSU, co-advised by Dr. Karl Haapala and Dr. Iman Ghamarian. He holds master’s degrees in both Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, and has extensive skills and knowledge of advanced materials research and development, gained through over 20 years of engineering and educational experiences.  During his career, he has gained various degrees of experiences in aerospace airframe and major joins, manufacturing processes for metals, composites and ceramics, quality enhancement projects, corrosion prevention projects, welding technologies, research and development for manufacturing, novel metallic alloys research, and carbon fibers and polymer matrix composite research. His research is focused on artificial intelligence, deep learning, powder bed fusion additive manufacturing, and predictive manufacturing methods.

 
 

Thidarat Sawai, Ph.D. Student (2021-present)

Thidarat is pursuing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at OSU. She is originally from Sisaket, in northeast of Thailand. She received her master's degree in solar energy from the University of Perpignan, France. Before joining OSU, she worked in policymaking, promoting and implementing solar energy usage in industries and rural areas in public sector. Her current research is focused on multi-criteria decision-making methods to assist energy system design and technology selection in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing, rural, and disadvantaged areas.

 

Current M.S. Students

Gabrielle Paul, M.S. Student (2025-present)

Gabrielle is a M.S. student pursuing her second Industrial Engineering degree at Oregon State University. She graduated with a B.S. in 2023 with a focus in human-centered design. Her research interests include how cognition and decision-making overlap with engineering processes, with an emphasis on teaching. 

Tahjib Rafat, M.S. Student (2023-present)

Tahjib is a mechanical engineer with over seven years of experience in O&M, process optimization, and reliability management in the power and marine industries. Currently pursuing an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University with a specialization in Advanced Manufacturing and conducts research in material behavior and FEA modeling for Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF). Tahjib excels in Lean Six Sigma methodologies, defect reduction, and process efficiency, with a proven track record of managing big scale projects and driving improvements across diverse teams.