Lab Alumni

Nathan Kelley joined the lab as an undergraduate research and teaching assistant and graduated with a Masters in Embedded Systems in 2022. He regularly was the teaching assistant for FPGA-based digital design courses and worked primarily with high-level synthesis compiling Java to VHDL for hardware implementation in FPGAs and FPGA-based hardware design. Nathan works with certification and design guidance for FPGA-based hardware requiring FAA-approval for aviation applications.

In his free time, Nathan enjoys cooking, walking, and golfing. His favorite dish to cook is seafood risotto. He also makes his own Salsa which he would regularly bring to the lab!

Andrew DeJonge joined the lab as an undergraduate research and teaching assistant from Schwartz Creek, Michigan. He graduated with a Masters in Embedded Systems in 2022. He regularly was the teaching assistant for FPGA-based digital design courses and worked with FPGA-based hardware design and microcontroller-based systems. Andrew was also a tutor for the Engineering Core Success Center for several years and earned a reputation from other students as a "go to" for help in core courses.

While he was completing his studies at OU, Andrew and Cassidy married and welcomed their first baby, Jack, into the world!

Matthew Kowalczyk is from White Lake, Michigan and started the program in mechanical engineering at University of Denver. He transferred to Oakland University in 2007 because of the high quality of the School of Engineering and Computer Science at OU. Matt chose computer engineering because he likes programming and anything involving computers. Once he learned Java at OU, he started developing games for the Android on his own (Touch Drummer, Sean McNulty Skateboarding, Droid Disc Golf). Matt graduated with his undergraduate degree in computer engineering in December 2012 and graduated with a Master's degree in Embedded Systems from OU in May 2015.

He has played ice hockey since he was 4; at the AAA level in Michigan as a teenager and at the college club level in Denver and at OU. Matt also enjoys golf, tennis, snowboarding, and video games.

Mike Prechel is from Buffalo, NY and joined the lab in May 2012 after completing his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Akron, OH. Mike earned a Masters in Embedded Systems at Oakland University in May 2014. Mike became interested in the program because of his interest in interfacing with microprocessors and learning about hardware design.

While studying at Akron, Mike participated in the co-op program where he spent four semesters working for AlphaMicron, Inc.. There, he helped develop the electronics and software for their auto-tinting liquid crystal eyewear.

In his spare time, Mike enjoys working on side projects, watching movies, SCUBA diving, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.

Kate LaBelle earned a Master's in the Embedded Systems at Oakland University in May of 2014. She received her bachelor's degree in Computer Science in May of 2012. Her current work in the lab involves improving nano-imaging software. Kate has previously participated in a summer research program in which she developed a self-organizing feature map that clustered various sound inputs. She also worked as a teaching assistant for Oakland University in animation and Java programming classes.

Kate is an active member of ACM and volunteers at orientation and conference events at Oakland. During the little spare time that she has, Kate enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with her family and friends.

Mark Bowers completed his Bachelor's degree with a double major in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Oakland University. He started the Master's program at OU in the Fall 2011 and earned a Master's degree in Embedded Systems in May 2013. His interests are diverse, but include reconfigurable hardware, embedded systems, computer networks and security, high-performance and parallel computing, and wireless power transmission.

Mark also works part-time as an engineering intern at RHK Technology in Troy, MI. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, watching movies with his family, listening to classical music, and keeping busy with various side projects. He also maintains a personal website at MarkBowers.org. He is currently working at RHK Technologies.

Robert Preston graduated with his Master's of Embedded Systems in from Oakland University in May 2013. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering at Oakland University May 2010. In 2008 Rob was part of the SIBHI program researching protein folding using high level modeling programs. His Primary research interests include MEMS, Nano-Technology, and embedded systems.

In his spare time Rob enjoys working on various side projects, playing golf, riding bikes, playing tennis, and hanging out with friends and family.

Lakshminarayanan Ramaswamy graduated with his masters in Embedded Systems at Oakland University in May 2012. He completed my bachelor's degree in May 2006 in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the College of Engineering, Anna University.

After completing his undergraduate degree, he joined the Embedded Devices Development Group (medical division) at HCL technologies where he gained considerable experience in working with Real Time Operating Systems and developing firmware, drivers and applications for embedded devices over the past four years. Lakshminarayanan's research interests are real-time operating systems and embedded systems design.

He enjoys yoga, playing sports including tennis and table tennis and he is learning classical guitar. Lakshmi currently works at Intrepid Control Systems.

Mike recently completed his Bachelor's degree with a major in Computer Science and although he is interested in researching anything new and exciting, currently Mike is focused on programming language translation and image processing. In addition to his studies and working in the lab, Mike works part-time as a programmer for NextStep Solutions, Inc.

His outside interests include playing soccer, video games, and watching movies. He prides himself on being an amateur singer and pancake chef.

Aarin Covyeau graduated with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science in May 2013. He joined the Lab in June 2011 and helps develop and maintain the nano-imaging software for RHK’s latest hardware. Aarin is interested in researching anything cool and exciting that comes his way in the field of Computer Science and always enjoys learning about new topics.

Aarin is interested in writing programs, database programming and design, Android development, and fixing up computers. His other interests include playing the drums, watching movies, listening to music, hanging with family, reading books, the Internet, and just hanging out with friends.

Dhanasekaran Venugopal's research interest are design of Hybrid (Microcontroller + FPGA) Systems, Real time embedded systems and their Optimization. He is motivated to take challenging problems and contribute to humanity through technological solutions.

He graduated with Masters Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering on December 2008. His master thesis was “Development of a Fit-Up Solver and Force Stepper Techniques for a Servo Controlled Resistance Spot Welding Gun”. The fit-up solver technique is new in its kind and has quick response time. These real time solutions help to produce consistent strong welds for Automotive manufacturer. Prior to his graduation, he was working as research assistant in the department and later as Intern at Continental Corporation.

He graduated with bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Madras, India on May, 2003. After that he worked as Lecturer and later as Design Engineer in India. He has considerable design, algorithm development and hardware testing experiences.

Lawrence Kennedy graduated with a Master's in Embedded Systems from Oakland University in December of 2006. He received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan in May 2004. Lawrence started working with Dr. Hanna in May of 2005 to construct a compiler to compile Java to VHDL for the implementation of flowpaths on an FPGA. His research interests include most anything related to science, technology, and embedded systems. Lawrence was a great asset to the lab and contributed significantly. Although he has moved to California to accept a job offer, he remains in contact with our research lab and is still working on advancing flowpaths. While working in the lab, Lawrence also worked at Continental Teves as a test engineer for the anti-lock, traction control, and stability control brake systems software. During his undergrad, he played on the water polo team at U of M for four years, and still enjoys swimming and playing water polo in his free time. Lawrence also enjoys traveling and spending time with friends and family.

Terry Redman was a Ph.D. student in Systems Engineering at Oakland University. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Grand Valley State University in December of 1997. In 2005, he completed a Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering at Oakland University. His primary research interests include BioMEMS, artificial intelligence, and embedded systems with a growing interest in signal processing.

Terry spent most of his life on the west side of Michigan before moving to the Rochester area in 1998. He has worked for Compuware since 1999 and has been contracted to an automotive company since 2002. His extra-curricular activities include golf, darts, fantasy football, and playing poker. He also enjoys just hanging out at home with his wife and child.

Ravi Dhiren Shah graduated with his Master of Science in Embedded Systems at Oakland University in May 2005 and took a job with a local engineering company. He worked for Dr. Darrin Hanna and Dr. Daniel Aloi since October 2003 on the Soft Radio Based GPS Receiver project while studying embedded hardware and embedded software development.

This project was conceived to realize the application where an antenna array orientation is controlled through a feedback loop. This feedback loop receives a S/N ratio value for its functioning from this FPGA based GPS receiver.

Ravi is a major movie buff and loves to watch English and Hindi (India’s National Language) movies. His favorite games are Cricket, table tennis, swimming, pool and snooker.

Ravi's philosophy in life is to never give up and always keep trying, which he calls the “CRUSH THE GAME” attitude. His family has taught him to never give up and give his best effort, be patient, truthful and caring. His long-term goal is to work in the Embedded Systems field and eventually becoming an entrepreneur.

Jay Sattler was studying Systems Engineering at Oakland University. He graduated from Lake Superior State University in 1990 with a BS in Electrical Engineering Technology. In 1999, he graduated from Oakland University with an MS in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Computer Engineering. His research interests are Reconfigurable Logic, Programmable Logic Synthesis and Embedded Systems Architecture.

His current projects involve the development of algorithms and software for automotive systems. In addition, Jay teaches training classes in the subjects of VHDL, Multithreaded Programming and Real Time Operating Systems.

A life-long Michigan resident, Jay has been in the Rochester area for 15 years and enjoys fly fishing, clay shooting and has been a licensed Amateur Radio operator since 1987.

Ryan Marten started as an undergraduate student at Oakland University in 2016 and joined the lab in 2020. As a research assistant, Ryan worked closely with Intrepid Control Systems for research and development on various PCB and circuit designs. He graduated in 2021 with a BSE in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering.

After graduating from Oakland, he earned his Masters in Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His primary study of focus was in embedded systems and advanced computer architecture. During his Masters, he interned with Xilinx (now part of AMD) and Texas Instruments on their embedded processing teams.

Currently, he is working full-time at Xilinx-AMD as a Silicon Design Engineer for their FPGA systems in San Jose, California. Ryan’s primary interest is in FPGA/embedded systems in the area of chip design and validation. In his spare time Ryan loves playing sports, particularly swimming and tennis, as well as traveling.

Camille was an undergraduate research assistant in Computer Engineering. She worked on consumer products with microcontrollers optimizing code and generating and executing embedded test plans. Camille enjoys keeping up to date on computer engineering topics, particularly embedded AI and machine vision and she likes biking, long walks with her little dogs, and art in all forms, especially poetry and digital art.

Alex Postlmayr started as an undergraduate student at Oakland University in 2015 and joined the lab in 2016. As a research assistant, Alex worked on embedding a fuzzy clustering algorithm for high-speed scan probe microscopy. He also spent time creating visualization tools for the Liu Lab at UC Davis.

His favorite project at Oakland was during his Senior Design Capstone project, where he was able to work on implantable, neural electronics through the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility. After graduating from Oakland, he was awarded an NSF Graduate Fellowship and went on to pursue a PhD in Bioengineering at UC San Diego. His research project involves computer vision and machine learning to create a virtual physical therapy mobile application, helping patients rehabilitate faster at home and more confidently with remote supervision from their physical therapist.

In his spare time, Alex likes playing hockey and tennis.

Charles Otlowski graduate with a BSE in Computer Engineering from Oakland University as his 2nd undergraduate degree. He first graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY with an EMAC degree (Electronic Media Arts and Communications) in 2007. Charles also worked as an intern at Cenit North America and in the Nano-Imaging Software lab.

Every topic holds some attraction to him but of particular interest are subjects dealing with image processing, circuits, artificial intelligence, game development, networking, 3d modeling/animation/lighting, photography, and database programming. Any of his (rare) spare time is spent reading, drawing, taking pictures, writing, web surfing, walking in Michigan’s metroparks, hanging out with his family, or doing some random task that comes to mind.

Eric Ulicny graduated with his Bachelor's degree double majoring in Computer Engineering and Computer Science in May 2012. While in the lab, he worked in the Information Technology Department at Marian High School and in the lab part time. Eric worked with us on consumer products for those who are hearing impaired including microcontrollers, wireless technologies, and telephone-data ICs.

Eric enjoys spending his spare time with his Girlfriend and Friends, while enjoying Michigan’s short summer with plenty of biking and running. His side projects include web development, Linux server deployment, and various Arduino hardware projects.

Matt Wozniak graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Oakland University. Matt worked with the research team on building the floating-point operations for the high-speed, low power flowpaths. Matt’s primary experience with the research group has been to design compact, fast and efficient hardware floating-point arithmetic algorithms. He has also designed a simple simulated annealing algorithm to test and benchmark the floating-point flowpaths.

Outside of research and coursework Matt enjoys developing web style applications, and also has an ongoing project of building his own 3D network multiplayer game. He likes to spend time with his friends, girlfriend, and family when he is away from school and work.

Brian Carpenter received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Oakland University in December 2006. During his undergraduate studies, Brian worked with Dr. Hanna on the compiler for the flowpath project, and as a teaching assistant for CSE 378: Computer Hardware Design. During his tenure in the lab, Brian contributed greatly to the success of automatically generating state machines for flowpaths. Brian finds working with the students to be rewarding, as he enjoys helping people. In addition to being a full time undergraduate student, research assistant, and teaching assistant, he was employed with Total Automation writing software for industrial systems. He specializes in robotics and vision systems.

Brian particularly likes to program applications that have real-world applications, hence his attraction to automation. In his free time, when he has some, he likes to swim, bike and write software. He tries to stay active, but finds himself drawn to one of his many projects. Besides software design, Brian has a background in drafting, electrical controls, and networking, all of which are quite useful at his current job.

Loretta Macklem graduated with a BSE in computer engineering from Oakland University in December 2005. She continued her studies in the graduate program at Michigan State University. While working in the lab, Loretta contributed towards research that resulted in professional publications from participating in research into airborne and solid material bacteria detection. Loretta considers her interests in engineering a family affair, besides having two older brothers who are engineers, she also has an older sister in the computer engineering field. She attributes much of her ongoing success to her older sister who has always guided her and mentored her in this field. For the past year she has worked as an intern for her sister’s computer consulting company AM Software. Loretta’s main interests are in artificial intelligence and biotechnology. She also enjoys other adventures such as sky diving, snowboarding, running, playing piano, cross-country skiing, and wakeboarding.

Ben Oztalay was a senior at the Roeper High School when he joined the lab in 2011. Ben graduated from high school in June 2011 and is attending the University of Michigan majoring in Computer Engineering. During the summer of 2009, Ben designed a 32-bit processor in Logisim, a digital logic simulator. Through the rest 2009 and part of 2010, he became experienced with FPGAs and implemented the processor he designed in an FPGA using VHDL. In 2009, Ben also earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.

His other interests include artificial intelligence, computer science, electrical engineering, and reconfigurable hardware. Ben's spare time is spent skiing, juggling, running, writing code, or working on side projects.