Research Personnel    

Dr. Irfan Khan is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Marine Engineering Technology with a joint appointment with the Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M College Station. He is the director of the Clean And Resilient Energy Systems (CARES) Lab, which focuses on the cyber security, reliability, and sustainability of cyber-physical systems, including electric energy systems, drones, marine vessels, and biomedical systems. In addition, Dr. Khan is an affiliate faculty member with the TAMU Energy Institute and the TEES Smart Grid Center. Before joining TAMU in 2018, he received a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University USA. Recently, he has been presented with several prestigious awards and honors, such as the 2021 Jim Leonard Outstanding Member Award from IEEE Region 5, the Gulf Research Program's Early-Career Research Fellowship: Offshore Energy Safety (Track 3) from the National Academies, and the 2021 IEEE Region 5 Director’s Award Technical Conference Co-Chair.

Current Post Docs

Dr. Jueming Hu is a Postdoctoral Research Associate under the supervision of Dr. Ifran Khan. She received her Ph.D. and master’s degrees from Arizona State University in 2023 and 2018, respectively. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Southeast University in China in 2017. Her research interests include Reinforcement Learning, autonomous systems, optimization, and operations research.

Current Graduate students

Zach McKinney is a first-year Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, USA. He graduated from Angelo State University in 2001. After serving in the United States Navy as an Electrician's Mate in the nuclear power program, he worked as a shift electrical and control systems specialist in the steel industry. He joined Chevron in 2009 working in field automation, measurement, and electrical power systems. He completed his BSEE at Arizona State University in 2019 and is currently a Senior Electrical Engineer at Chevron. He is a registered Professional Engineer with the State of Texas.

Alonzo A. Álvarez Meola is a Project Manager at Chevron and a first-year Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University, College Station. He graduated from George Washington University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (2011) and an M.S. in Engineering Management (2012). Since joining Chevron in 2013, he has been involved in the energy sector's major capital projects ranging from $10M to $1B. He has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in upstream Facilities Engineering covering automation, power systems, project engineering, and renewable power. In his latest position, he has been developing solar and wind farms across Chevron’s portfolio. He serves on the IEEE Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conversion Systems committee and is a registered professional engineer in the State of Texas and Connecticut.

Muhammad Ashar Ayaz is a first-year Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University. His academic journey includes an M.Tech from SBA School of Science and Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences (Dean Honor Award in 2021), and a Bachelor's degree (Gold Medal) from COMSATS University, Pakistan in 2018. During his tenure at SolDrive (September 2018 to June 2020), he worked and contributed to sustainable energy research in Pakistan. He has worked as a Research Assistant at Hagler Bailey (Jan 2022 - Aug 2023). He has also contributed to research as a Lab Engineer at Mitsubishi Power Electronics Research Lab and a Research Assistant at Water Informatic Technology LUMS. His areas of research include Power Systems, Model Predictive Control, Power Electronics, and Transient Stability Analysis.

Aiman Siddiqui is a first-year Ph.D. student in Computer Engineering at ECEN, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. Ms. Siddiqui has a Bachelor of Science (BSc) and Master of Science (MSc) in Electrical Engineering degrees (Computer major) from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. Her research interests include, but are not limited to; computer vision, biomedical image analysis, behavioral analysis, machine learning, and deep networks.

Zahid Hussain  is a first-year MS student in Computer Engineering. He received his Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University, India. His areas of interest include Deep Learning and Computer Vision, Biomedical Sciences, Robotics, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). He has participated in the prestigious Singapore AUV competition, and his team clinched a place among the top 20 contenders. He has authored four peer-reviewed publications and has received the "Best Paper Award" at the esteemed IEEE International Conference on Computing (ICOCO) 2021.

Yasir Ali Farrukh is a Ph.D. student working under Dr. Irfan Khan. He is working on various projects related to machine learning and cyber security. His current research interest includes Cyber Security, Cryptography, Smart Grid, and AI application technologies. Currently, he is leading a project in the domain of Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

He received his B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan in 2018. Moreover, he has more than three years of industrial experience in power systems and automation in the Oil and Gas Sector.

Syed Wali received the Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan, in 2018. He received the Master of Engineering degree in Electrical Power System from NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan in 2021. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station, and working as a Research Assistant at the Clean and Resilient Energy Systems (CARES) Lab. His research areas include Machine learning, energy management, cybersecurity, digital signal processing, and electrical power systems.

Shorya is a first-year MS student in Computer Engineering, having completed his Bachelor of Technology in the same field from Aligarh Muslim University, India. His interests span several areas including compiler design, network security, robotics, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Notably, Shorya participated in the prestigious Singapore AUV competition, where he secured a spot among the top 20 contenders. Additionally, he achieved first place in a national ROV competition, competing against over ten teams. His practical experience is further enriched by multiple internships as a software developer with well-established startups.

Shaykh Siddique is a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at Texas A&M University, where he is co-advised by Dr. Nitesh Saxena. His research focuses on developing privacy engineering tools using machine learning and artificial intelligence. He earned his MS in Computer Science from Prairie View A&M University, Texas, where his master’s thesis involved applying machine learning to sports analytics. In this work, he developed predictive models for player performance and game outcomes, utilizing statistical and computational techniques to enhance team strategy in sports management.

Ahmed Kouzou is a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECEN), Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. He holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and a Master's degree in Power Engineering from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Boumerdes, Algeria. His research interests include, but are not limited to, microgrids, weak grids, and renewable energy source (RES) integration.