People
Principal Investigator
Ye (Sarah) Sun
Associate Professor
Sun joined UVA as an associate professor in 2021. Prior to her position at UVA, Sun was an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Technological University.
Graduate Students
Chukwuemeka Ochieze
Nazirah Farach Rojo
Soroush Zare is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Virginia, specializing in AI-driven robotics and brain-computer interfaces. His research focuses on designing intelligent systems that enable adaptive human-robot interaction through multimodal machine learning.
He is passionate about advancing real-world AI applications across robotics, wearable systems, and embedded platforms. His current research contributions include:
• Efficient machine learning model optimization for real-time inference in robotics and wearable exoskeletons
• Transformer-based EEG signal processing for motor intent decoding and adaptive human-robot interaction
• Multimodal AI integration combining vision, EEG, and biosignals with reinforcement learning for intelligent control
• AI-accelerated embedded systems enabling low-latency, on-device ML inference and optimization
• Design and control of soft wearable exoskeletons for upper-limb rehabilitation and neuroadaptive assistance
Faisal Rehman
Faisal is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Virginia. My research focuses on the development of embroidered and textile-based electronic systems for biomedical signal acquisition (ECG, EMG, sweat, and EEG) and human-machine interface applications. I specialize in designing low-impedance, skin-contact electrodes, and biosensors using flexible embroidered circuit integration. Furthermore, my expertise includes embedded electronics, circuit design, Water sensors, and biosensing technologies for healthcare monitoring.
Sameh Beaber
Sameh received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the Military Technical College in Cairo, Egypt, specializing in mechatronics and robotics. During his bachelor’s, he worked on the development of a novel model and control technique for the R-Hex robot. For his master’s, he focused on the kinematic and dynamic modeling of hexapod robots, utilizing genetic algorithms to optimize its walking gait, contributing to advancements in legged robotics. Sameh is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Virginia, developing a physics-guided deep learning (PGDL) framework that integrates physics-based models into neural networks for soft robot modeling and control. His work combines experimental design, including a soft rehabilitation glove, with strong-form PINNs that embed the Navier-Cauchy equation as a first principle physics, account for nonlinear material and geometric effects, and incorporate soft contact mechanics. This framework enables accurate, real-time predictions for soft robot applications such as deformation, manipulation, and interaction, with potential impacts in rehabilitation, biomedical devices, and automation.
Navian Francis
Ellianna Xinyi Bailey
Sarah Elizabeth Hemler
Alumni
Alumni at Michigan Tech
C. George Ochieze
M.S. graduated in 2021, now working towards Ph.D. at UVA.
Somerset Shrock
M.S. graduated in 2021
Rutuja Shivarkar
M.S. graduated in 2021. (Body Controls Engineer at Canoo, CA.)
Si Liu
M.S. graduated in 2019.
Hui Huang
Ph.D. graduated in 2019, Dean’s award for outstanding scholarship at Michigan Tech.
Xian Li
Ph.D. graduated in 2019, Dean’s award for an outstanding scholarship at Michigan Tech.