Meet the Team

Faculty

Assistant Professor | Department of Mechanical Engineering

Maha Haji, PhD

Prof. Maha Haji joined the University of Michigan in 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Prior to that, she was an Assistant Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Systems Engineering at Cornell University. Her lab develops designs for symbiotic offshore systems to sustainably extract resources from the ocean such as power, water, and food, as well as mineral resources key to the progress of clean energy.

Previously, Prof. Haji was an MAE Faculty Fellow at Cornell and a Postdoctoral Associate in the Engineering Systems Laboratory in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT where her research focused on utilizing multidisciplinary design optimization to develop a floating platform, known as PEARL, to provide recharging and data offloading capacity for autonomous underwater vehicles.

She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical and Oceanographic Engineering in 2017 from the Joint Program between MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where she focused on the design and prototyping of a symbiotic system to harvest uranium from seawater. Prof. Haji has worked in industry as an engineering consultant at ATA Engineering, where she used analysis-driven design to solve problems ranging from aircraft and rockets to robotics and rollercoasters. She holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Post-Doctoral Fellows

  • Laura Sopegno

    Post-Doctoral Fellow, Mechanical Engineering, lsopegno@umich.edu

    Laura Sopegno earned her B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin and a joint Ph.D. from the University of Denver and University of Palermo in 2025. Her research focuses on autonomous robotic systems, with an emphasis on connecting simulation and control with real-world sensing and experimental validation. She has contributed to projects supported by NASA, ESA, and DARPA, and serves on the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee.

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  • Olivia Murphy

    Post-Doctoral Fellow, Mechanical Engineering, molivi@umich.edu

    Olivia is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Mechanical Engineering who is dedicated to advancing sustainable mineral extraction. Currently, she assesses and supports the deployment of technologies to extract critical minerals from seawater. She earned her B.S. and M.S. from Prairie View A&M University before completing her M.S. and Ph.D. at Cornell University in August 2026. Her doctoral work focused on the development, modeling, and optimization of an offshore wind-powered system that extracts hydrogen and critical minerals from seawater.

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Doctoral Students

  • Nate DeGoede

    Ph.D. Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, degoeden@umich.edu

    Nate is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering interested in research relating to sustainable sources of energy, food, and clean water. He earned his Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Valpo in 2022. Throughout undergrad, Nate had the opportunity to research in the Markiewicz Solar Research Facility with Dr. Peter Krenzke and Dr. Luke Venstrom. Outside of Mechanical Engineering, Nate enjoys ultimate frisbee, hiking, and playing bass guitar.

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  • Collin Treacy

    Ph.D. Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, treacy@umich.edu

    Collin is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering interested in the dynamics, controls, and design optimization of offshore renewable energy. He double majored in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics at the University of Rhode Island where he focused on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and NASA’s centrifugal nuclear thermal rocket. Following this, he received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and researched nonlinear dynamics and vibrations. In his free time, Collin enjoys scootering, rock climbing, and going to the gym.

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  • Georgia McSwain

    Ph.D. Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, mcswain@umich.edu

    Georgia is a Mechanical Engineering PhD student interested in fluid dynamics, bio-inspired design, and environmental sustainability. She graduated from Washington and Lee University in May 2024 with a major in Physics and a minor in Mathematics. During her undergrad her research was focused in the field of biophysics. In her free time Georgia enjoys hiking, dancing, and sailing.

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Undergraduate Students

  • Farzad Hasan

    Undergraduate Student, Computer Science, Robotics, farzadh@umich.edu, http://www.farzadhasan.dev

    Farzad is a CS and Robotics undergraduate student at the University of Michigan. In his free time, he loves learning about advanced machine learning and mechanical engineering concepts in the pursuit of designing physical AI! He also loves to cook and bake.

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  • Marina de Albuquerque Marcon

    Undergraduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, dealmar@umich.edu

    Marina is an undergraduate student Majoring in Mechanical Engineering with minors in Computer Science and Math. Her research interests include robotics, bioinspired design, and technology for environmental conservation. While she is not in the lab, she enjoys baking, exploring the outdoors, and playing jazz.

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  • Jai Singh

    Undergraduate Student, Electrical Engineering, jairs@umich.edu

    Jai is a senior studying Electrical Engineering, originally from Southern California. He enjoys scuba diving and playing pickleball. Professionally, Jai hopes to apply his engineering background to developing robotics for marine conservation.

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  • Thomas Tran

    Undergraduate Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering, ttrann@umich.edu, tommytt427.github.io

    Check out MASA! Go Blue!

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Alumni

  • Abrar Shariff

    M.S. ‘26

    Robotics Engineering

    sharifff@umich.edu

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  • Alice Chen

    B.S. ‘29

    Computer Engineering

    chenam@umich.edu

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  • Alaa Ahmed

    Post-Doctoral Associate ‘25

    Mechanical Engineering

    alaa.ahmed@cornell.edu

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  • Matthew Haefner

    Ph.D. ‘26

    Systems Engineering

    mwh85@cornell.edu

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  • Rebecca McCabe

    Ph.D. ‘26

    Mechanical Engineering

    rgm222@cornell.edu

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  • Olivia Vitale

    Ph.D. ‘26

    Aerospace Engineering

    ov35@cornell.edu

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  • Kapil Khanal

    Ph.D. ‘25

    Systems Engineering

    kk733@cornell.edu

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  • Arron Chang

    M.Eng. ‘25

    Environmental Engineering

    ac2787@cornell.edu

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  • Ziad Mosalam

    M.Eng. ‘25

    Mechanical Engineering

    zkm22@cornell.edu

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  • Kunj Nilesh Patel

    M.Eng. ‘25

    Mechanical Engineering

    knp42@cornell.edu

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  • Ruochong Zhu

    M.Eng. ‘26

    Systems Engineering

    rz469@cornell.edu

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  • Jiarui (Jordan) Yang

    M.Eng. ‘23

    Systems Engineering

    jy778@cornell.edu

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  • Kirti Bagepalli

    B.S. ‘26

    Electrical and Computer Engineering

    kb593@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Hope Best

    B.S. ‘26

    Computer Science

    hmb95@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Yinghui Bimali

    B.S. ‘26

    Engineering Physics

    yb272@cornell.edu

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  • Madison Dietrich

    B.S. ‘26

    Mechanical Engineering

    mjd429@cornell.edu

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  • Elvin Fu

    B.S. ‘26

    Mechanical Engineering

    ecf49@cornell

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  • Moho Goswami

    B.S. ‘26

    Environmental Engineering

    mg2297@cornell.edu

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  • Natalie Ho

    B.S. ‘27

    Environmental Engineering

    nh424@cornell.edu

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  • Khai Xin Kuan

    B.S. ‘26

    Information Science

    kk996@cornell.edu

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  • Jenny Lee

    B.S. ‘27

    Electrical and Computer Engineering

    sl2854@cornell.edu

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  • Tina Li

    B.S. ‘27

    Operations Research and Engineering

    tml228@cornell.edu

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  • Eliana Olson

    B.S. ‘26

    Environmental Engineering

    ero23@cornell.edu

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  • Sara Pagliuco

    B.S. ‘26

    Mechanical Engineering

    smp352@cornell.edu

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  • Claire Power

    High School ‘27

    clairep274@sufferncentral.org

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  • Chloe Reidy

    B.S. ‘26

    Mechanical Engineering

    ccr79@cornell.edu

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  • Jenna Reiss

    B.S. ‘27

    Environmental Engineering

    jar628@cornell.edu

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  • Andrea Reina

    B.S. ‘26

    Mechanical Engineering

    agr82@cornell.edu

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  • Aitzaz Munir Shaikh

    B.S. ‘27

    Computer Science and Mathematics

    ams845@cornell.edu

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  • Kayoko Thornton

    B.S. ‘26

    Mechanical Engineering

    ket65@cornell.edu

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  • Alex Weng

    B.S. ‘27

    Mechanical Engineering

    akw76@cornell.edu

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  • Noam Werners

    B.S. ‘25

    Mechanical Engineering

    nkw33@cornell.edu

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  • Cecily Pokigo

    B.S. ‘24 | M.Eng. ‘25

    Mechanical Engineering

    cpp43@cornell.edu

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  • En Lo

    B.S. ‘25

    Environmental Engineering

    hl752@cornell.edu

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  • Michelle Yu

    M.Eng. ‘25

    Mechanical Engineering

    mjy34@cornell.edu

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  • Patrick O’Connor

    M.Eng. ‘25

    Mechanical Engineering

    pjo36@cornell.edu

    Personal Website

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  • Heisen Kong

    M.Eng. ‘25

    Systems Engineering

    hk593@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Aisha Brundan

    B.S. ‘25

    Mechanical Engineering

    aeb298@cornell.edu

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  • Ruiyang Jiang

    M.Eng. ‘24

    Electrical and Computer Engineering

    rj393@cornell.edu

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  • Keya Gillenwater

    B.S. ‘26

    Electrical and Computer Engineering

    kpg36@cornell.edu

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  • Loren Weiner

    M.Eng. ‘24

    Mechanical Engineering

    lsw92@cornell.edu

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  • Zhiyu (Iris) Ren

    B.S. ‘26

    Environmental Engineering

    zr92@cornell.edu

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  • Eduardo Barajas

    B.S. ‘24

    Mechanical Engineering

    eb832@cornell.edu

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  • Leah Buccino

    M.Eng. ‘24

    Mechanical Engineering

    lbb77@cornell.edu

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  • Kaixin (Ezio) Shen

    M.Eng. ‘24

    Civil Engineering

    ks2355@cornell.edu

    ks2355@cornell.edu

  • Ana Sofia Alonso Munera

    B.S. ‘24 | M.Eng. ‘24

    Mechanical Engineering

    aa983@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Kelvin Resch

    B.S. ‘26

    Electrical and Computer Engineering

    kr562@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Ehina Srivastava

    M.Eng. ‘25

    Mechanical Engineering

    es924@cornell.edu

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  • Mary Conlan

    B.S. ‘26

    Mechanical Engineering

    mrc279@cornell.edu

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  • Benjamin Choe

    B.S. ‘26

    Electrical and Computer Engineering

    bkc54@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Kavya Mittha

    B.S. ‘26

    Mechanical Engineering

    km773@cornell.edu

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  • Nathan Rakhlin

    B.S. ‘25

    Electrical and Computer Engineering

    npr29@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Arezoo Hasankhani

    Post-Doctoral Associate ‘23

    Mechanical Engineering

    ah844@cornell.edu

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  • Gabriel Ewig

    B.S. ‘24

    Mechanical Engineering

    gre27@cornell.edu

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  • Lalit Mistry

    B.S. ‘23

    Mechanical & Electrical Engineering

    lm862@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Isabel Mejía-Roberts

    B.S. ‘24

    Mechanical Engineering

    mm2587@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Remy Vearil

    B.S. ‘26

    Mechanical Engineering

    rsv34@cornell.edu

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  • Junyi Jiang

    M.Eng. ‘22

    Material Science and Engineering

    jj496@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Vidhi Srivastava

    B.S. ‘25

    Electrical and Computer Engineering

    vs356@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Annie Stewart

    B.S. ‘25

    Environmental Engineering

    aes369@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Anjana Asok

    M.Eng. ‘22

    Computer Science

    aa958@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Mirelys Carcana Barbosa

    B.S. ‘22

    Engineering Physics

    mpc223@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Ryan Cheng

    M.Eng. ‘22

    Systems Engineering

    yc885@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Jinzhou (Kane) Li

    M.Eng. ‘22

    Systems Engineering

    jl3485@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Mumtaziah Faaz

    M.Eng. ‘21

    Material Science and Engineering

    mf642@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Wen-Jung “Joanna” Chien

    M.Eng. ‘23

    Material Science and Engineering

    wc524@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Owais Khalid

    M.Eng. ‘22

    Chemical Engineering

    omk24@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Catherine Millwater

    B.S. ‘22

    Physics

    cam553@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Alex Niemi

    B.S. ‘24

    Physics

    alex.niemi@go.minnstate.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Brandon Feraud-Solorzano

    B.S. ‘25

    Mechanical Engineering

    bf282@cornell.edu

    LinkedIn

  • Ray Weng

    M.Eng. ‘22

    Computer Science

    rw525@cornell.edu

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  • Paul Young

    B.S. ‘23

    Mechanical Engineering

    pjy23@cornell.edu

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