Advisor Eligibility

Steps to Finding an Advisor (or Committee Member)

Step 1: Check the lists below to find faculty that have research areas that interest you.
Step 2: On the lists below, confirm they are ELIGIBLE to be an advisor (or committee member) for your program of interest. This is indicated by a check by their name in the column associated with your program of interest.
Step 3: If they are eligible, visit their profile page to read their bios. Click on their name in the tables below to go to their profile pages.
Step 4: Contact the faculty member (see below for tips) to provide background information on yourself and to confirm that they have AVAILABILITY for a new advisee. Students often will ask to set up an introductory meeting.

Important Considerations for prospective PhD Students

Our Ph.D. application is competitive: the program is highly sought-after and we have limited capacity for new students each application period. Because securing an advisor can be the longest and most difficult part of the application process, we encourage you to begin well in advance of the application deadline.
Please reference the application checklist/instructions for details on this process.
You cannot apply to the Ph.D. program without securing an advisor. Without a confirmed advisor, your application will be considered incomplete and not reviewed for admission.
If you have more questions, see our Frequently Asked Questions.

Systems Engineering Core Faculty

Name	Primary Department	Specialization(s)	Eligible to be PhD Advisor?	Eligible to be PhD Committee Member?	Eligible to be Master’s Advisor?	Eligible to be Master’s Committee Member?	Eligible to be Outside Committee Member?
Adams, Jim	Systems Engineering	Satellite Systems	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Bradley, Thomas	Systems Engineering	Energy and Resource Systems, Multidisciplinary Systems Engineering	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Brown, Aaron	Systems Engineering	Humanitarian Engineering, Sustainable and Socio-technical Systems, Human Factors	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Cale, James	Systems Engineering	Energy Systems Integration	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Coburn, Tim	Systems Engineering	Energy and Transportation Analytics, Energy Economics and Policy Analysis, Energy Operations and Systems, Management Science, Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Resource Assessment, Energy Infrastructure	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Conrad, Steve	Systems Engineering	Water, Energy, and Resource Systems, Human Factors, Coupled Systems Modeling, Decision Analysis/Support Systems	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Daily, Jeremy	Systems Engineering	Heavy Vehicle Systems – Cybersecurity & Forensics	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Gallegos (Miller), Erika	Systems Engineering	Transportation Systems, Human Factors, Safety	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Herber, Daniel	Systems Engineering	Design Optimization, Systems Architecture, Dynamics/Controls	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Marzolf, Greg (Bo)	Systems Engineering	Department of Defense Resiliency Efforts, Government Emergency Management/Response Architectures, and Controls on Complex Emergent system Behaviors	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Paglioni, Vinnie	Systems Engineering	Human Factors, Risk and Reliability Analysis, Nuclear Safety, Energy Systems, Causal Bayesian Networks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Eftekhari Shahroudi, Kamran	Systems Engineering	System Architecture, Multidisciplinary System Design Optimization	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Simske, Steve	Systems Engineering	Analytics, Intelligent Systems, Sensing Systems, Imaging Systems, Cybersecurity, and Situationally-Aware Collectors of Knowledge (SACKs) in robotics	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Vans, Marie	Systems Engineering	Augmented/Virtual Reality Design of Software and Simulations and Analytics, Document Understanding and Analytics, Information Science	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Systems Engineering Associated Faculty

Please note: Faculty listed as ‘Associated’ have a joint appointment in SE but a primary home department elsewhere. These faculty may serve as ‘SE’ members on committees and may not serve as an ‘outside member’ for SE students.

Name	Primary Department	Specialization(s)	Eligible to be PhD Advisor?	Eligible to be PhD Committee Member?	Eligible to be Master’s Advisor?	Eligible to be Master’s Committee Member?	Eligible to be Outside Committee Member?
Anderson, Charles (Chuck)	Computer Science	Machine Learning	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Arabi, Mazdak	Civil and Environmental Engineering	Hydrologic/Water Quality Monitoring, Data Assimilation and System Analysis, GIS and Remote Sensing in Watershed Management, Nonpoint Source Pollution/Soil and Water Conservation, Environmental Monitoring	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Bandhauer, Todd	Mechanical Engineering	Industrial decarbonization, High efficiency hybrid power generation, Heat activated cooling systems, Carbon capture	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Bond, Tami	Mechanical Engineering	Energy, Air Quality, Climate, Environment, Health	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Bowser, Gillian	Ecosystem Science and Sustainability	Sustainability, National Parks and Protected areas, Biodiversity Change, International Environmental Negotiations	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Butler, Charles	Computer Information Systems	Information Technology	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Carlson, Kenneth	Civil and Environmental Engineering	Water and Wastewater Related Issues	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Chan, Joshua	Chemical and Biological Engineering	Modeling and Engineering Microbiomes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Chong, Edwin	Electrical and Computer Engineering and Mathematics	Control/Optimization and Wireless Networks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Dillon, Jasmine	Soil and Crop Sciences	Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment and Systems Modeling	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Elliott, Jonathan	Construction Management	Construction Workforce Development, Offsite and Modular Construction Practice, Technology Integration in Construction	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Fassnacht, Steven	Ecosystem Science and Sustainability	Water Resources & Snowpack, Natural Systems	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Ghosh, Sudipto	Computer Science	Software Engineering, Model-Based Software Development, Software testing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Goodrum, Paul	Construction Management	Construction Productivity, Workforce Strategies, Visualization	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Grigg, Neil	Civil and Environmental Engineering	Infrastructure and Utility Management	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Harper, Christofer	Construction Management	Project Delivery and Contracting, Construction Workforce Development, Advanced Construction Technologies, Construction and Engineering Education	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Jayasumana, Anura	Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science	Digital Systems and Communication Networks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Jin, Ziyu	Construction Management	Construction Safety and Health, Virtual Design & Construction, Construction Automation, Workforce Development	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Killingsworth, John	Construction Management	Construction Finance, Architectural History & Preservation, Transformative and Virtual Learning Theory, Workforce Development and Training in Construction and Manufactured Construction	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Malaiya, Yashwant	Computer Science	Testing, Reliability, and Security	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Mehany, Mohammed	Construction Management	Claims Management, Infrastructure Asset Management, Resilient Systems and Sustainability, Life Cycle Costs and Assesments	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Mueller, Nathan	Ecosystem Science and Sustainability	Agricultural Sustainability, Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, Spatial Data Science and Modeling	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Olbina, Svetlana	Construction Management	Building Information Modeling (BIM), Sustainability, Construction Safety, Virtual and Mixed Reality in Construction	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Pasricha, Sudeep	Electrical and Computer Engineering	Embedded and Cyber-Physical Systems, IoT and Mobile Computing, Datacenter Computing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Peccoud, Jean	Chemical and Biological Engineering	Biomanufacturing, Bioinformatics, Security	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Quinn, Jason	Mechanical Engineering	Life-Cycle Assessment, Techno-Economic Assessment, System Optimization	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Radford, Donald	Mechanical Engineering	Composite Materials Technology	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Ray, Indrakshi	Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering	Security and Privacy, Database Systems, Software Engineering	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Sharvelle, Sybil	Civil and Environmental Engineering	Wastewater and Greywater Reuse, Biological Process Engineering, Conversion of Waste to Energy, Integrated Urban Water Management	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Troxell, Wade	Mechanical Engineering	Intelligent Robotic Systems, Distributed Application Architectures	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Valdes Vasquez, Rodolfo	Construction Management	Sustainable Development, Net-Zero/Net-Positive Buildings and Communities, Social Sustainability in the Construction Sector	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Venkatachalam, Chandrasekaran (Chandra)	Electrical and Computer Engineering	Signal Processing, Radar Systems, UAVs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Wrighton, Kelly	Soil and Crop Sciences	Soil Microbiomes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Young, Peter	Electrical and Computer Engineering	Robust and Learning Control, Clean Energy Systems	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Zimmerle, Dan	Mechanical Engineering	Power Systems	No	Yes	No	Yes	No