Design Science – PhD Alumni

2018 Graduating Class

Michael Deininger
  • Graduation Date: Winter 2018
  • Disciplines: Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Education, Biomedical Engineering, Industrial Design, and Psychology.
  • Co-Advisors:  Kathleen Sienko and Shanna Daly
  • Thesis Title: Informing Intentional Use of Prototyping in Engineering Design: Context-Specific Novice Approaches and Stakeholder Feedback
  • Email: midei@umich.edu
Yanxin Pan
  • Graduation Date: Summer 2018
  • Disciplines: Statistics, Computer Science, Marketing
  • Co-Advisors:  Panos Papalambros, Rich Gonzalez
  • Thesis Title: Preference Modeling in Data-Driven Product Design: Application in Visual Aesthetics
  • Email: yanxinp@umich.edu

2016 Graduating Class

Alex Burnap
  • Graduation Date: Summer 2016
  • Disciplines: Engineering design, computational statistics, marketing
  • Co-Advisors:  Panos Papalambros and RIchard Gonzalez
  • Thesis Title: Crowdsourcing for Engineering Design: Subjective Preferences and Objective Evaluations.
  • Email: aburnap@aburnap.com
  • Video: View Engineering Futures 

2015 Graduating Class

Robert Alexander
Vineet Raichur
  • Graduation Date:  Fall 2015
  • Disciplines: Energy systems, consumer choice behavior
  • Co-Advisors: Richard Gonzalez and Steve Skerlos
  • Thesis Title: Models to Enable Estimation of Marginal CO2 Emissions in Electricity Production and Urban Mobility Systems
  • Email: vineetr@umich.edu
Amir Sabet Sarvestani
  • Graduation Date:  Winter 2015
  • Disciplines: Engineering design,psychology, marketing and public health
  • Co-Advisors: Richard Gonzalez and Kathleen Sienko
  • Thesis Title: Designing Task Shifting Medical Devices for Low-Resource Settings
  • Email: asabet@umich.edu

2014 Graduating Class

Namwoo Kang
  • Graduation Date: September 2014
  • Disciplines: Mechanical Engineering and Marketing
  • Co-Advisors: Panos Papalambros and Fred Feinberg
  • Thesis Title: Multidomain Demand Modeling in Design for Market Systems
  • Email: nwkang@umich.edu
Anna-Maria Rivas McGowan
  • Graduation Date: April 2014
  • Disciplines: Organization Science and Engineering
  • Co-Advisors: Panos Papalambros and Wayne Baker
  • Thesis Title: Interdisciplinary Interactions during Research and Early Design of Large-Scale Systems
  • Email: anna-maria.r.mcgowan@nasa.gov
  • Video: View Engineering Futures 

2013 Graduating Class

Soodeh Montazeri
  • Graduation Date: April 2013
  • Disciplines: Design and Psychology
  • Co-Advisors: Panos Papalambros and Richard Gonzalez
  • Thesis Title: Design for Behavior Change: The Role of Product Visual Aesthetics in Promoting Sustainable Behavior
  • Email: soumont@umich.edu
Jihye Kim
  • Graduation Date: April 2013
  • Disciplines: Psychology, Marketing and Industrial Design
  • Co-Advisors: Carolyn Yoon and Richard Gonzalez
  • Thesis Title: Design with Subtle Cues: Visual Expression of Connectedness and Its Downstream Effects
Elliott Manzon
  • Graduation Date: May 2013
  • Disciplines: Psychology and Marketing
  • Co-Advisors: Colleen Seifert and Nigel Melville
  • Thesis Title: Avoiding the Buyer’s Fallacy: Consumer Perceptions of Products Before Purchase
  • Email: Elliott.Manzon@UC.edu

2012 Graduating Class

Sookyung Cho
  • Graduation Date: August 2012
  • Disciplines: Psychology and Marketing
  • Co-Advisors: Richard Gonzalez and Carolyn Yoon
  • Thesis Title: Aesthetic and Value Judgment of Neotenous Objects: Cuteness as a Design Factor and its Effects on Product Evaluation
  • Email: sookie.cho@nku.edu

2011 Graduating Class

Kate S. Whitefoot
  • Graduation Date: August, 2011
  • Disciplines: Mechanical Engineering and Public Policy
  • Co-Advisors: Steven Skerlos and Meredith Fowlie
  • Thesis Title:  Quantifying the Impact of Environmental Policy on Engineering Design Decisions
  • Email: kwhitefoot@cmu.edu
Rafael Ramos
  • Graduation Date: August 2011
  • Disciplines: Systems Design Engineering and Information
  • Co-Advisors: Brian Gilchrist and Ixchel Faniel
  • Thesis Title: Parametric Design within an Atomic Design Process (ADP) applied to Spacecraft Design
Mobeen Shaukat
  • Graduation Date: August, 2011
  • Disciplines: Mechanical Engineering and Marketing
  • Co-Advisors: Kazuhiro Saitou and John Marshall
  • Thesis Title: Influence of Product Complexity and Customers Demographics on Co-Design
  • Email: Mshaukat@Kfu.edu.Sa

2010 Graduating Class

Seda Yilmaz
  • Graduation Date: April, 2010
  • Disciplines: Psychology and Art & Design
  • Co-advisors: Colleen Seifert and Jan-Henrik Andersen
  • Thesis Title: Design Heuristics
  • Email: seda@iastate.edu
Tahira N. Reid
  • Graduation Date: April, 2010
  • Disciplines: Mechanical Engineering and Psychology
  • Co-advisors: Panos Papalambros and Rich Gonzalez
  • Thesis Title: Quantifying Perception-Based Attributes in Design: A Case Study on the Perceived Environmental Friendliness of Vehicle Silhouettes
  • Website: https://engineering.purdue.edu/reidlab/
  • Email: tahira@purdue.edu