Where Are Prof. Li's Former Students and Associates?
Our former members took important engineering positions
following research and study experience in the LI Group.
- Tim Davis, who graduated in May 2003, became a welding engineer
with Bechtel.
- Michael Harrison accepted a job offer in May 2004
from Caterpillar Inc. to
work at the company's Illinois plant as a manufacturing
engineer.
- Mark Baugh took a faculty position in Fall 2004
with Weber State University's
manufacturing program.
- Kevin Orme defended his M.S. thesis and graduated in May, 2004. He
was an instructor at Weber State University. Now a welding professor
at BYU-Idaho.
- Wes Allen took a job with Genie as a manufacturing engineer in May
2005.
- Jared Eavenson accepted a job with Bechtel - Idaho Falls. He started
there by December 05.
- Zhiyong Liu, Associate Professor from Zhengzhou University,
Henan, China, worked in our group as a senior visiting researcher from
Feb. to Nov. 05.
- Tang Tian graduated from our group in May 06.
- Bingquan Chen, Professor from Wuhan University of Technology,
Wuhan, China, worked in our group as a visiting professor from
Dec. 05 to May 06.
- Andrew Wilson finished his M.S. studies in Aug. 06.
- Dr. Xuejun Zhu finished his postdoc research program in the group
in October 2006, to become a postdoc at the Case Western Reserve
University.
- Mr. Kei Osawa of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan) finished his
stay in the group as a visiting researcher, and went back to Japan
December 2006.
- James Harris finished his M.S. studies in May 2008, and started
working for Lortz Manufacturing Co.
in California as an engineer.
- Paul Wilson finished his M.S. studies in May 2008, and had gone
working for Cascade Energy Engineering.
- Dr. Manas Mahapatra finished his stay in the group as a postdoc,
went back to India in summer 2008, to become a professor at Indian
Institute of Technology.
- Jennifer Albretsen finished her study at USU in 2009, and went to
start her PhD program in Physics.
- Rich Wilson finished his M.S. at USU, and started in
Fall 2010 his PhD program in Materials Science at University of
Illinois.
- Reid Archibald finished his M.S. studies in Jan. 2011, and had
gone working for General Electric Aviation.
- Chunbo (Sam) Zhang finished his Ph.D. in Spring 2011, and took up
a Researcher position in the Fusion Research Center at University of
California, Los Angeles.
- Andrew Deceuster finished his Ph.D. in Spring 2012, and started at
Precision Castparts Corp (a Fortune 500 company), in Portland, Oregon,
as a research engineer. He is currently a professor of manufacturing
at Weber State University.
- Ben Griffiths finished his M.S. in Spring
2012. Congratulations!
- Dr. Pei-Quan Xu finished his one-year visiting professor stay in
the group. He returned to Shanghai University of Engineering Sciences
as a professor in April, 2013.
- Jess Housekeeper graduated in May, 2013, and started working as an
engineer at KAPL (Knolls Atomic Power Lab).
- Bishal Silwal defended his PhD dissertation in August,
2013. Congratulations! Bishal is currently a professor of mechanical
engineering at Georgia Southern University.
- After one-year stay with the group and upon Dr. Li's move to
Canada, Zhifen Wang transferred in Summer of 2013 to the PhD program
in welding at Colorado School of Mines.
- Deepthi Rao finished her M.S. in Spring 2015 and started working
at Roush Industries in Detroit, Michigan. Congratulations!
- Chris DiGiovanni finished his MSc in Spring 2017 and started
working at University of Waterloo's welding program toward a
PhD. Congratulations!
- Jason Wang defended his PhD dissertation in December 2017. After
six month serving as a postdoc research associate in Dr. Li's group,
he moved to Oak Ridge National Lab as a researcher in summer
2018. Congratulations!
- Prof. Zhisheng Wu of Taiyuan University of Science and Technology
visited our group as a senior visiting scholar from Fall 2017 to Summer 2018.
- Dr. Dashuang Liu of Jiangsu University of Science and Technology
visited our group as a senior visiting scholar from Fall 2017 to Summer 2018.
- Dr. Zhipeng Ma of Northeast Petroleum University of China
visited our group as a senior visiting scholar from Fall 2017 to Summer 2018.
- Neil Anderson finished his MSc in Summer 2018 and started
working at Evraz North America as a research engineer. Congratulations!
- Alfred (Peng) Yu finished his stay at Dr. Li's group as a PhD
student under the China Scholarship Council exchange student
program. He returned in November 2018 to College of Materials
Science and Engineering, Jilin University, to defend his PhD thesis. Congratulations!
- Daniel Unsworth finished his MSc in Summer 2019. Congratulations!
- Dr. Minghao Shi of Shenyang University of Technology visited our group as a postdoc under a Chinese Scholarship Council fellowship from January 2019 to January 2020. He was promoted to Associate professor upon his return to Shenyang. Congratulations!
- Dr. Rangasayee Kannan worked on his PhD from 2015 to winter 2018, stayed for a year as a postdoc, and went to work for ORNL in summer 2019. Congratulations!
- Nitin Saini finished his 6-month visit of our group under the SERB fellowship of Indian Government. He returned in November 2019 to IIT Rourkee to defend his PhD thesis. Congratulations!
- Dr. Nitin Sharma finished his postdoc experience in our group, and accepted an assistant professor position at Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) - Indian School of Mines, India. He went back to India in March 2021. Congratulations Nitin!
- Waris Khan finished his 9-month visit of our group under the SERB fellowship of Indian Government. He returned in December 2021 to IIT Jodhpur to defend his PhD thesis. Congratulations!
- Yajing Wang returned in January 2022 to School of Material Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Shanxi, China, after her two-year visit as a Ph.D. student with a Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) fellowship. She returned to Taiyuan to defend her PhD thesis. Congratulations!
- Jesse O'Sullivan returned in August 2022 to Civil Engineering at the University of Sheffield, UK, after her one-year visit as a MITACS MSc fellow working with Innotech Alberta. She conducted research on arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) applications to energy and mining equipment.
- Jason (Jing) Li finished his PhD degree in September 2023. He continues his CTO position at Trimay Wear Plates Inc. Congratulations Dr. Jason!
- Suvan Dev Choudhury finished his PhD degree in September 2023. Suvan has joined A.R. Thomson as a research engineer. Congratulations Dr. Suvan!
- Ellis Moldrich has finished his one-year visit of our group through the MITACS project with Alberta Innovates. He returned in August 2023 to University of Sheffield to finish his MEng Aerospace degree. Best wishes Ellis!
Past group photos:
Group photo taken on Sept. 30, 2016. From left to right, Dr. Li, Lieduo (Daniel) Yang, Neil Anderson, Rangasayee Kannan, Rebekah Bannister, Chris DiGiovanni, and Jason Wang.
Photo in Summer 2007 upon
finishing building the elastic screen (standing in the middle): From
left Jim Harris, Dr. Li, Rich Wilson, (The tubular sand screen),
Andrew Deceuster, and Reid Archibald.
Photo of the group in Fall 2006: From left Kei Osawa, Brad Kerbs, Sam
Zhang, Xuejun Zhu, Andrew Deceuster, Dr. Li, Jim Harris; Jennifer
Albretsen sits in front.
Photo
taken in Summer 2005.
The following photo shows our research group in Spring 2003. First row
from left to right: Michael Harrison (Senior undergraduate,
superalloys repair), Scott LaDue (Senior undergraduate, laser
system). Second row from left to right: Dr. Leijun Li (Group leader),
Wes Allen (Senior undergraduate, aluminum welding), Mark Baugh
(Lecturer), Andrew Wilson (M.S. graduate student, welding metallurgy),
and Kevin Orme (M.S. graduate student, welding metallurgy).
