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

Motahare Mounesan is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Texas A&M University at Galveston in the CARES Lab, conducting research on multimodal AI systems, Edge Intelligence, and Generative AI. She earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the City University of New York (CUNY) in 2025, where her dissertation focused on developing reinforcement learning–based strategies to optimize performance, efficiency, and reliability of distributed Edge-AI systems. She received her B.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Tehran.

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. candidate working under the supervision of Dr. Irfan Khan. His research focuses on machine learning and cybersecurity, with particular interests in Cybersecurity, Large Language Models (LLMs), Cryptography, Smart Grids, and AI-driven applications. He is currently leading a Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) project 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, and his M.S. in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2024. In addition to his academic work, Yasir serves as a Generative AI Ambassador at TAMIDS and has previously worked at Microsoft, where he contributed to the development of the company’s first security foundational model.

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.

Adel Heidari-Akhijahani received his B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran, in 2017, and his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 2020. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.

His research interests include optimal operation and resiliency of distribution systems, real-time analysis of distribution networks, integration of electric vehicles into power systems, and mathematical optimization techniques for power system applications.