Credit: Penn State
Eight engineering graduate students recognized with University awards
Apr 4, 2025
Editor's note: A version of this article originally appeared on Penn State News.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State recognized 42 graduate students, including eight from the College of Engineering, with annual University awards that celebrate students' impact in research, scholarship, teaching, outreach, mentoring and more. The students are being recognized at a special lunch on April 21. The annual recognition awards are sponsored by the Office of the President and administered by the Fox Graduate School.
The award winners from the College of Engineering include:
Graduate Student Service Award
Architectural engineering doctoral candidate Jacob Seiler is a dedicated leader in sustainability and service, making a significant impact at Penn State and beyond. As co-chair of the Student Sustainability Advisory Council (SSAC), he leads a team in developing sustainability proposals for university leadership, organizes the annual Sustainability Summit, and co-founded the Student Sustainability Network (SSN) to unify student organizations focused on environmental initiatives. Under his leadership, SSN now connects 20 student groups, fostering collaboration and driving meaningful change. Seiler also contributes to other sustainability-focused councils and teams while conducting research on energy efficiency in controlled environment agriculture.
Seiler produced For the Future, a short film highlighting student-driven sustainability efforts at Penn State. The film was selected for the Centre Film Festival, and a clip shared on Penn State’s official Instagram reached over 25,000 viewers, amplifying awareness of sustainability initiatives.
Beyond campus, Seiler’s commitment to service extends to rural Appalachia, where he has spent a decade helping rebuild homes with Project Hope. Through leadership, research, and outreach, Seiler hopes to shape a more sustainable and equitable future.
Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Awards
Ashish Jacob, an industrial engineering doctoral candidate, taught six sections of courses focused on 3D printing, machining and product design specifications. His first experience teaching was for an afterschool program for low-income students, and his passion bloomed from that. His philosophy is grounded in the idea that the way we do what we do and everything that comes as a result of this is due to the role of excellent educators. He strives to create a friendly and positive environment, and his dedication goes beyond that, with one example being him volunteering to develop new hands-on learning opportunities in additive manufacturing labs.
AT&T Graduate Fellowship Award
Abdullah Al Ishtiaq is a computer science and engineering doctoral candidate whose research explores ways to improve security of wireless networks like 4G, 5G and Bluetooth, which are essential for daily life, supporting communication, financial transactions and critical infrastructure. Security flaws in these systems can expose users to risks such as identity theft and cyberattacks, and Ishtiaq is working to identify and fix these vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. By using artificial intelligence and traditional analytical methods, his research automates the analysis of complex wireless protocol documents, uncovering hidden security weaknesses. This research has revealed significant flaws in widely used commercial devices from companies like Google and Samsung, which led Ishtiaq to directly collaborate with manufacturers to enhance security.
Secure wireless systems are crucial for protecting healthcare networks, financial transactions, and national security. By developing cutting-edge security analysis tools and working with industry leaders, Ishtiaq intends to help create a safer digital world, ensuring that people can rely on wireless communication without fear of cyber threats in an increasingly interconnected society.
Graduate Student International Research Award
Architectural engineering doctoral candidate Joe Kallas is developing advanced AI-driven methods to assess and protect historic buildings in disaster-prone areas. Traditional damage assessments are often slow and subjective, but his research integrates artificial intelligence, computer vision, and 3D modeling to automate and accelerate the process, providing timely, reliable insights for stabilization and restoration. His case studies include the 2020 Beirut explosion and the 2023 Kakhovka Dam breach in Ukraine, and demonstrate the transferability of his methods to U.S. historic centers impacted by tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. His work addresses the urgent need for rapid, data-driven evaluations following both man-made disasters and natural hazards, both of which can devastate historic structures.
In collaboration with UNESCO and local authorities, Kallas also prioritizes capacity building by traveling to disaster-stricken regions to train professionals in conducting independent, technology-driven assessments. Beyond post-disaster response, his research informs long-term resilience strategies, contributing to sustainable urban planning and cultural heritage preservation. His goal is to turn research into action immediately, ensuring that the knowledge he develops serves communities in crisis, not just in the future but at the very moment they need it.
Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award
Civil engineering master’s student Matthew Hallissey studies the use of drones for surveying permafrost thaw in the Arctic. As climate change accelerates permafrost thaw, affecting infrastructure and communities, innovative methods are needed to assess subsurface conditions. Traditional surveying methods are often time intensive and difficult in remote regions.
Hallissey looked at whether a drone equipped with tools to analyze deep beneath the Earth’s surface, and image the surface in high-resolution, would assist with gathering data to mitigate potential issues. Conducted in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, this research is the first to apply drone-based electromagnetic imaging to permafrost studies in the region. The data collected helps identify frozen and thawed ground, providing insights critical for infrastructure planning and climate resilience.
Hallissey’s work has broader societal benefits as well. He led STEM outreach programs for Indigenous students in Alaska, fostering local engagement in science and engineering. His contributions enhance Arctic sustainability efforts, improve infrastructure resilience, and demonstrate ways for future scientists to collaborate inclusively with Arctic communities.
Penn State Alumni Association Scholarship for Penn State Alumni in the Fox Graduate School
Mechanical engineering doctoral candidate Joseph Molnar studies airflow over next-generation aircraft to determine ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing flight-speed. Turbulence, heat transfer, and shock waves can all lead to instabilities at high speeds and altitudes; these instabilities should be mitigated for safe flight. Molnar uses cutting-edge tools for aerodynamic measurement and ground testing. Through his doctoral work, he developed a novel approach to processing non-intrusive optical diagnostic measurements of fluid flow, significantly improving accuracy. He has collaborated with the Air Force Research Laboratory to test and transition 3D measurement techniques in wind tunnels, gaining insights into applied aerodynamics.
After graduation, he plans to work as a research scientist at a defense research laboratory, conducting basic and applied research that directly benefits society. He is committed to mentoring and leadership within the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In his career, he hopes to drive innovation, support future engineers, and continue contributing to the Penn State community.
Alumni Association Dissertation Award
Civil engineering doctoral student Tanveer Ahmed’s research focuses on improving the safety, equity, and efficiency of traffic signals through an algorithmic approach. Road accidents are a leading cause of death among teenagers, while congestion costs Americans approximately $190 billion annually and contributes significantly to global emissions. To this end, Tanveer developed several Adaptive Traffic Signal Controls that intelligently adapt to real-time traffic conditions, ensuring equitable, sustainable, and efficient mobility.
One innovation of his work is the development of a novel, occupancy-based algorithm that prioritizes high-occupancy and transit vehicles. Unlike traditional transit signal priority systems that rely on external rules, this model dynamically integrates real-time passenger occupancy, upstream vehicular demand, and downstream capacity to optimize throughput at both intersection and network levels. He conducted extensive simulations and demonstrated that his algorithm outperforms existing strategies, improving transit reliability and reducing passenger travel times even in connected vehicle environments.
Hao Zhou, a doctoral student in computer science and engineering, studies using low-cost wearable devices for a wide range of benefits. He developed affordable wearables such as smart rings for finger motion tracking, which have applications in virtual reality. Such wearables can also be used to track the hands of hearing-impaired users, facilitating communication between hearing-impaired and hearing individuals.
Additionally, his work on digital health explores wearable sensors that monitor complex health metrics like cardiac output and stress levels, providing continuous, noninvasive health tracking. This has the potential to democratize early disease detection and improve overall health monitoring.
His future goal is to integrate these technologies into a unified system that tracks motion, health, and communication seamlessly, enhancing accessibility and functionality for everyday applications in various fields.
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