Project Core Team

Dr. Doris Abrishami

Doris Abrishami is an associate professor and director of Radiologic Sciences program at California State University Northridge (CSUN). Prior to her teaching at CSUN, she was working as a certified Radiologic Technologist for 20 years where she was a clinical coordinator, lead technologist, and preceptor at Northridge Hospital Medical Center. She received her bachelor’s degree in Radiologic Sciences, her master’s degree in higher education, and Doctoral degree in education, all from CSUN. Her research interests include cultural competency in health care and her doctoral dissertation was written and published on the topic of cultural competency education for radiography students and imaging technologists. She has presented the topic of cultural competency at several national educational conferences. More recently, she has been interested in the topic of mentoring and peer-mentoring to be specific. She wrote a manuscript titled: “Benefits of mentoring in allied health programs” in the Journal of Radiologic Science and Education. Last year, she received the Highly Influential and Sustained Innovation faculty award at CSUN. Dr. Abrishami, has been involved nationally as a delegate for American Society of Radiologic Technologists and is currently president of California Society of Radiologic Technologist representing over 12,000 registered Radiologic Technologists in the state of California.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/doris.abrishami

Dr. Md Sahabul Alam

Dr. Md Sahabul Alam is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Before that, he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Systems and Computer Engineering Department at Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada with prestigious Canadian Government FRQNT Fellowship. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS), Montreal, QC, Canada. Prior to PhD, Dr. Alam obtained his M.Sc. degree in Telecommunication Engineering from INRS-EMT, Montreal, QC, Canada, and B.Sc. degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET), Khulna, Bangladesh where he also served as a Lecturer for more than three years. In Ph.D., Dr. Alam awarded the Governor General of Canada Gold Medal which is the highest distinction in graduate level. He has authored and co-authored over 20 journal articles and 15 conference papers in the filed of wireless communications. He has served/is serving as the TPC member of various prestigious IEEE conferences and reviewer of several major journals of IEEE communications society. His current research interests include reliable wireless communications in non-Gaussian noise environments, PHY layer techniques for terrestrial and aerial communications.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/md-sahabul.alam

Dr. Vartenie Aramali

Dr. Vartenie Aramali currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at California State University, Northridge, and stands out for her unique combination of industry experience and scholarly achievement. Her academic journey includes a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management with a specialization in project and program management. In 2022, she earned a Ph.D. in civil, environmental, and sustainability from Arizona State University. Recognized as a PMP^® certified industry professional by the Project Management Institute, Dr. Aramali has leveraged her experience in EPC turnkey contracting to make substantial contributions to the industry practices and is dedicated to infusing her industry experience into her scholarly endeavors including teaching and student mentoring. Her passion for research, practical research, and published works are a testament to her understanding of the field. She has published many articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings. Her research interests are earned value management systems, group-based research methods, EPC contracts, project delivery, project bidding, safety, engineering education, contracts, social sciences, and other advanced project and construction management topics. She can be contacted at vartenie.aramali@csun.edu.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/vartenie.aramali

Dr. Behzad Bavarian

Dr. Behzad Bavarian is Mory Ejabat Endowed professor in the Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management Department at California State University in Northridge, and Director of W. M Keck Advanced Materials Laboratory, Dr. Bavarian received his PhD. degree in Metallurgical Engineering at The Ohio State University in 1980. He is the author/co-author of 256 journal and conference papers. He is recipient of the 2012 NACE International, Technical Achievement Award for contribution to corrosion and corrosion engineering and 2008 SFV Engineer’s Council Outstanding Instructor of the Year Award, John J. Guarrera Engineering Educator of the Year Award.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/behzad.bavarian

Dr. Silvia Carpitella

Silvia Carpitella obtained a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain) and a Ph.D. in Technological Innovation Engineering from the University of Palermo (Italy) along with the title of Dottore Europaeus in 2019. She has gained experience in teaching and research in various countries, including the United States, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Spain, England, Germany, and Italy. She currently holds the position of Assistant Professor at California State University Northridge, where she teaches the courses “Introduction to Data Analytics for Engineering Managers” and “Knowledge Discovery from Databases and Data Visualization for Engineering Managers”. Her main research interests focus on the integration of engineering and mathematics, with particular attention to decision support systems, the treatment of uncertainty affecting human assessments, mathematical modeling, and optimization of safety and logistics management in industrial contexts. She developed over 80 scientific publications, including articles published in indexed journals and proceedings of international conferences, book chapters, and educational articles. The quality of her research activities has been internationally recognized through the Otto Wichterle Award, awarded to outstanding young scientists (under 35) by the Czech Academy of Sciences. Her doctoral thesis has been awarded in the area of industrial plants by the Italian Foundation Luigi De Januario, and in the area of sciences by the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/silvia.carpitella

Dr. Debi prasad Choudhary

Dr. Choudhary completed Ph. D. Degree in 1990 working on “High-Resolution Spectroscopic Study of Comets”. His Post Doctoral work was carried out at Max-Planck Institute, Germany, where he used large telescopes at Calar-Alto, Spain to study the Jovian plasma torus. He has been studying various topics in solar astronomy since 1992. He was awarded the Research Associateship of National Research Council for two times in 1998 and 2003. In 2001, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan awarded him the “Center of Excellence Fellowship”. He is a member of several professional associations such as American Astronomical Society, American Geophysical Union, and American Association for Advancement of Sciences, Astronomical Society of India and International Astronomical Union.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/debiprasad.choudhary

Dr. Tzong-Ying (Kay) Hao

Dr. Tzong-Ying Hao is an adjunct professor in the College of Engineering & Computer Science at the California State University, Northridge where she has been a faculty member since 2009. Dr. Hao completed her Ph.D. at the University of Southern California and her undergraduate studies at Chung Yuan Christian University, in Taiwan. Her research interests lie in the area of earthquake engineering, ranging from theory to experimentation to application. Dr. Hao is the instructor for a fun yet challenging undergraduate subject, Engineering Dynamics. She has actively participated in the training programs on adult learning, communication skills, instructional delivery, use of technology in a classroom, and assessment of student learning outcomes. She served as the faculty mentor of AIMS² program (2018-2022), and currently serves as the faculty advisor of EERI-CSUN Chapter, Seismic Design Team.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/tzong-ying.hao

Dr. Xunfei Jiang

Dr. Xunfei Jiang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and a faculty member of the CSUN Autonomy Research Center for STEAHM (ARCS). She is also the Principal Investigator (PI) for the NSF REU Site: Applying Data Science on Energy-efficient Cluster Systems and Applications. Her research interests include parallel and distributed systems, energy-efficient storage systems, load balancing, thermal modeling, hybrid data storage systems, big data, cloud computing, spatial database, etc. She has published more than 30 papers and had served as reviewers for more than 10 journals and program committee for several conferences, including IEEE TPDS, IEEE TKDE, ACM TODS, JPDC, IEEE NAS, IEEE ICMLA, etc. She has mentored many undergraduate and graduate students in various research project relate to energy-efficient computing and data science. She has published 5 papers with her undergraduate students in the past several years.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/xunfei.jiang

Dr. Ricardo Medina

Dr. Ricardo Medina is currently an Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering and Construction Management Department at California State University Northridge. Before his appointment as assistant professor at CSUN, Dr. Medina worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Orange County Water District, where he worked on several projects including one project using innovative temperature sensing technology to estimate the rate of water infiltrating through a recharge basin. Additionally, Dr. Medina worked on the testing and identification of several granulated activated carbon and ion exchange media for the treatment and removal of PFAS from the groundwater. Dr. Medina’s academic preparation includes a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (water resources) from the University of California Irvine, M.S. in Civil Engineering (water resources) from the California State University Los Angeles, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering (water resources) from the University of California Davis. Dr. Medina’s current research interests are in the field of hydrology, groundwater flow and modeling, physico-chemical processes in fracture flow, engineering education, and reducing equity gaps.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/ricardo.medina

Dr. David Moon

Dave Moon currently serves as an art and design professor at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where he leads the Communication Design area and advises IntersectLA. Previously, he chaired the Art/Design Department and served as Interim Dean of CSUN’s Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication. With nearly 35 years of teaching experience, Dave has founded or co-founded numerous student-centered creative ventures providing industry experience embodying a ‘learn-by-doing’ philosophy such as the Center for Visual Communication (VISCOM), Impact DesignHub, Artpreneur, META+Lab, RADIUS 2.0, and IntersectLA. Additionally, Dave continues to advocate for accessibility and inclusivity, aligning with his commitment to diverse student groups and equitable design practices. Reflecting his commitment to students’ success he authored textbooks: Design Strategy for Effective Branding and Power-Up YOU: A Personal Branding Handbook for Artists, Creatives, and Designers which has impacted helping countless students launching successful careers. Through his teaching, commitment to students and innovative approaches in advancing student success, Dave received the Wang Family Excellence Award for Outstanding Faculty Innovator in Student Success from the CSU system.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/dave.y.moon

Dr. Rasoul Narimani

Dr. Rasoul Narimani is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Before joining CSUN, he served as an Assistant Professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Arkansas State University, where he received the Faculty Excellence Award Emerging Scholar in 2021. From 2019 to 2021, Dr. Narimani was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Texas A&M University, conducting research in the area of Cyber-Physical Power Systems. He earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2019, receiving the Grainger Power Engineering Award. Dr. Narimani is the recipient of the 2023-2024 research fellowship in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at CSUN. His research focuses on graph theory, mathematical modeling, and optimization algorithms to enhance the efficiency of electric power systems.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/rasoul.narimani

Dr. Natalie Schaal

Dr. Natalie Schaal joined the faculty at CSUN as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in Fall 2021. After completing her Ph.D. at Caltech, she served as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) before joining the faculty at CSUN. Her multidisciplinary research experience spans a wide range of areas from solid mechanics and earthquake nucleation to educational interventions. In two of her externally funded projects, Dr. N. Schaal is currently investigating (1) dynamic strength characteristics of aluminum and (2) how best to support mentored research for minoritized students supported by NASA and NSF, respectively. In addition, Dr. N. Schaal has served in various leadership roles and has demonstrated her deep commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout her career. She has been heavily involved in the development and implementation of student success activities at the college level, such as town halls, community building events, and research opportunity series. As of Fall 2022, Dr. N. Schaal is one of two Student Equity Faculty Advocates in the Office of Student Success at CSUN. In this role, she supports campus efforts to center equity, inquiry, and student-centered practices in CSUN’s approach to attaining GI 2025 goals.

Faculty Profile: https://academics.csun.edu/faculty/natalie.schaal