People

Dr. Taylan G. Topcu

Email: ttopcu@vt.edu

Personal Website | Google Scholar | ResearchGate

Dr. Taylan G. Topcu is an Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering & Analysis at Virginia Tech, in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. At Virginia Tech, he also serves as the Director of Systems Engineering Master’s of Science Degree and the Coordinator of the Mission Engineering Certificate Program.  He also teaches ISE 5804 Fundamentals of Systems Engineering and ISE 5834 Decision Analysis for Engineers. 

Dr. Topcu holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the Middle East Technical University (METU ‘09), a MS in Systems Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH ‘15), and a PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech (‘20). Prior to joining the faculty at Virginia Tech, he was a Postdoctoral Scientist at the George Washington University in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering. 

Dr. Topcu is a member of INCOSE, ASME, CESUN, IISE, and the Design Society. At INCOSE, he serves on the Corporate Advisory Board and the Academic Council. 

Md Doulotuzzaman Xames

E-mail: xames@vt.edu 

Google Scholar | ResearchGate | LinkedIn

Xames is currently pursuing his PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering. He received his BS in Industrial and Production Engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Previously, he has worked as a lecturer for four years (2018-2022) in the Industrial and Production Engineering department at the Military Institute of Science and Technology in Bangladesh.

Research interests: Systems engineering, Digital twins, Data science, Healthcare systems.

Nicholas Jurczyk

E-mail: njurczyk@vt.edu

LinkedIn

Nicholas is currently pursuing a PhD in Management Systems Engineering. He received a BA in Economics (University of Florida), BS in Digital Engineering & Management (Reutlingen University), and MBA (Florida Gulf Coast University). Previously, Nicholas worked as a digital engineering consultant in the automotive sector and as a digital engineering project manager at a sustainability consulting firm.

Research Interests: Digital Engineering, Management Systems Engineering, Digital Transformation.

Jannatul Shefa

Email: shefa@vt.edu 

Google Scholar | LinkedIn

Shefa holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology in Bangladesh and a MS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arkansas. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Previously Shefa worked as an instructor for one and a half years at Military Institute of Science and Technology in Bangladesh.

Research interests: Prognostic and health management (PHM), System life cycle analysis, Explainable machine learning, Flexibility in Design, Post-production change. 

Ibrahim Cetinkaya

E-mail: ibrahimoguz@vt.edu

LinkedIn

Ibrahim is pursuing his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Middle East Technical University (METU ’23). He worked as a consultant in data science and digital transformation prior to joining Virginia Tech.

Research Interests: Systems Engineering, Resilience, Sociotechnical Systems, Data Science, Systems of Systems, Digital Transformation.

Max Ofsa

E-mail: jaster15@vt.edu

LinkedIn

Max hols a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech. Currently he is pursuing a PhD in Systems Engineering with a focus toward Mission Engineering and human-AI collaboration for design. He also is a faculty member at the University Libraries where he serves as the director of the experiential learning maker space: The Prototyping Studio. 

Research interests: Artificial intelligence for systems engineering (AI4SE), Space mission analysis, Design thinking, Iterative design.

Mary Nerayo

E-mail: mnerayo@vt.edu

LinkedIn | Google Scholar

Mary Nerayo is pursuing an M.S. in Systems Engineering. She holds a B.S. in Business Information Technology from Virginia Tech. She is a Research Engineer in the Complex Systems Division at the Virginia Tech National Security Institute. Her work and research interests center on evaluating AI-enabled systems, developing data-driven decision support tools, and exploring how AI and language models can support systems engineering.

Research interests: Systems Engineering, Digital Transformation, AI for Systems Engineering.

Xavier Casanova

E-mail: cxavier98@vt.edu

LinkedIn

Xavier is currently pursuing a PhD in Manufacturing Systems Engineering. He received a BS in Electronic Engineering and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. Previously, Xavier worked as a Process, Quality and Continuous Improvement engineer and as a Teaching Assistant Professor. 

Research Interests: Control Systems, Robotics, FPGA-based Embedded Systems, and Artificial Intelligence.

Tony Lee

E-mail: junkyu40@vt.edu

LinkedIn

Tony is an MS student in Human Factors Engineering. He finished his BS in Industrial Engineering at Virginia Tech.  He has recently interned with Telus Digital as a Product Research Intern. Previously, he was an MAOP Research Intern with Human IMPACT Lab at VT.

Research interests: Extended Reality (XR), Human-computer interaction, Systems engineering.

Adi Iyer

E-mail: adithyai@vt.edu

LinkedIn

Adi is an MS student in Industrial Engineering. He finished his BS in Computational Modeling and Data Analytics at Virginia Tech.  He has worked previously in software engineering and cybersecurity tech consulting in the industry and has done systems engineering research for VT NSI.

Research interests: AI agents, Systems engineering, System equivalence.

Andrea Galvan

MS in Systems Engineering
Current Position: R&D Engineer 1, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Spandhan Ramineni

MS in Systems Engineering
Current Position: Associate, Technomics, Inc.