PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Ya-Ting T. Liao
Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
e-mail: yating.liao@case.edu
Tel: 216.368.0048
Office: Glennan 619
POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCHER
Mithun Kumar Debnath, August 2025 - Present
Research Interest: solid material Limiting Oxygen Index (LOI), hydrogen energy, combustion, and fire safety
Hobbies: cooking, travelling, and reading books
e-mail: mkd96@case.edu
CURRENT STUDENTS
Pushkal Kannan, Ph.D. Student, June 2020 - Present
Research Interest: prediction of forest fire propagation using ANN, CFD analysis
Hobbies: soccer, surfing, rafting, getting lost in a new place
e-mail: pxk388@case.edu
Ali Naqvi, Ph.D. Student, January 2022 - Present
Research Interest: computational fluid dynamics, numerical modeling, fire science, thermofluids
Hobbies: competitive sports, reading fiction, hiking, travel
e-mail: ali.naqvi@case.edu
Jiaxuan Han, Ph.D. Student, January 2024 - Present
Research Interest: computational fluid dynamics, effects of partial gravity and pressure on limiting oxygen index
Hobbies: motorcycle, fishing, hiking, making friends
e-mail: jxh1679@case.edu
Zhuocheng (Charles) Sun , Ph.D. Student, June 2026 - Present
Research Interest: combustion in partial gravity, battery fire, computational fluid dynamics.
Hobbies: photography, snowboarding, Warhammer figure making, archery.
e-mail: zxs404@case.edu
ALUMNI
Robin Neupane, Ph.D. Graduate, 2026
First position after graduation: Postdoctral Researcher at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Ohio.
Christopher Riviears, BS/MS Graduate, 2026
First position after graduation: Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana.
Adam Aly (co-advised with Prof. James T’ien), BS/MS Graduate, 2026
Haolin Wen, MS Graduate, 2026
Boyu Wang, Ph.D. Graduate, 2026
First position after graduation: CFD Analysis Engineer at Tesla, Palo Alto, CA.
Jocelyn Schechter, BS/MS Graduate, 2026
First position after graduation: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Nathan Kralik, BS/MS Graduate, 2026
First position after graduation: Raytheon, Tucson, Arizona.
Nicharee Thinnakornsutibutr, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Oct. 2024- May 2026
First position after graduation: Research Fellow in the Engineering Cluster, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore.
Julian Crawford, Master Student, 2023-2025 .
Keith Cartwright, BS/MS Graduate (project-based), 2024
First position after graduation: Engineer I, Mechanical Design at X-Energy, Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Ankit Sharma, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Nov. 2021 - Jan. 2024
First position after graduation: Postdoctoral Researcher at NIST, Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Wohan Cui, Ph.D. Graduate, 2023
First position after graduation: Analyst at Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, Michigan.
Byoungchul Kwon, Ph.D. Graduate, 2023
First position after graduation: Postdoctoral Researcher at UL Research Institutes, Houston, Texas.
Arland Zatania Lojo, BS/MS Graduate (thesis-based), 2022
First position after graduation: Rocket Propulsion Engineer II at HX5 at NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland Ohio.
Enna Van Den Akker, BS/MS Graduate (thesis-based), 2022
First position after graduation: Thermal Engineer at Space X, Redmond Washington.
Eli Healey, BS/MS Graduate (thesis-based), 2022
Yanjun Li, Ph.D. Graduate, 2021
First position after graduation: faculty member at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China.
Andrew Green, BS/MS Graduate, 2020 (project-based)
First position after graduation: Engineer at FirstEnergy, Akron Ohio.
Ama Carney, BS/MS Graduate, 2020 (thesis-based)
First position after graduation: Thermal Analyst at Sierra Lobo, Ohio
Chengyao Li, Ph.D. Graduate, 2019
First position after graduation: Postdoctral Researcher at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Ohio.
Qian Li, MS Graduate, 2019 (thesis-based)
First position after graduation: China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd, Beijing China
Stephen Finnegan, MS Graduate, 2018 (project-based)
First position after graduation: Triumph Electronics & Controls - Ohio, Forest Ohio
JeanHyuk Park, MS Graduate, 2017 (thesis-based)
First position after graduation: MPS Korea
Minze Tao, MS Graduate, 2017 (project-based)
First position after graduation: Tencent, Palo Alto California
Shixun Gao, MS Graduate, 2016 (project-based)
First position after graduation: COMAC, Shanghai China