A new dean, two new faculty members, and a new project engineer were among the new faces for the fall 2024 semester in LTU’s College of Engineering.
Lawrence Technological University
Dean Maj Dean Mirmirani
A veteran engineering educator and researcher is now Interim Dean of the College of Engineering at Lawrence Tech.
Maj Dean Mirmirani succeeds Nabil Grace, who left his post as dean to take the newly created position of senior vice president of research and economic development, leading LTU’s new Division of Research and Economic Development.
Most recently, Mirmirani served from June 2022 to July 2023 as interim dean at Ohio University’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology. From 2007 to 2021, he was dean of the College of Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. From 1987 to 2007, he was a professor of mechanical engineering at California State University-Los Angeles, including serving for 12 years as department chair.
Mirmirani earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Tehran Polytechnic University and a Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of California-Berkeley.
Throughout his career, Mirmirani has led research projects funded by NASA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Science Foundation, and industry. His federal grants include research into electric aircraft propulsion, hypersonic aircraft, rapid prototyping, advanced manufacturing, engineering education, robotics, and more. He is also a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Aerospace Engineering. An instrument-rated pilot, Mirmirani is also a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Mirmirani said he accepted the interim position at LTU at the request of LTU Provost and Chief Academic Officer Richard Heist, with whom he worked at Embry-Riddle. A key part of that relationship was the transformation of Embry-Riddle from a primarily teaching institution to an R2 research university—a transformation now underway at Lawrence Tech.
Heist said Mirmirani “has had an extraordinary career in both engineering research and academic administration, and we look forward to his leadership and experience in helping the university and the College of Engineering to achieve our vision of becoming a more research-focused university.”
Said Mirmirani: “I am grateful and honored to assume a key leadership role at Lawrence Technological University and look forward to working with an extraordinary team of dedicated faculty and staff at the College of Engineering.”
Ge He, Biomedical Engineering
Ge He has been named assistant professor of biomedical engineering. He joined LTU from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he was a visiting assistant professor. He earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Mississippi State University after earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from China’s Xinhua University and Harbin Institute of Technology, respectively.
His research interests include biomechanics, medical device development, and the development of finite element and computational fluid dynamics models.
“Specifically, I develop computational models to understand the correlation between blood-contacting medical devices (BCMDs) and the device-induced blood damage,” including bleeding, unwanted clotting, and infection, he said. “The results from my research can help develop BCMDs with improved biocompatibility.”
He has been listed as core personnel on more than $2 million in National Institutes of Health grants and has published or co-authored more than 20 articles in academic journals.
He said he was attracted to join LTU by its proximity to corporate partners, its work environment, and its small class sizes. He said he hopes to improve his teaching, research, and grant-writing skills at LTU. He will teach a computer application lab, cardiovascular monitoring, biotransport, and bioinstrumentation classes at LTU.
Jose James, Robotics Engineering
An educator with more than a decade of experience in human-robot interfaces, computer vision, virtual and augmented reality, and haptics—using touch to control electronic devices—has been named assistant professor in LTU’s A. Leon Linton Department of Mechanical, Robotics, and Industrial Engineering.
Jose James has also already set up a new lab at LTU, the Haptics and AI Lab (HAIL), where he is the principal investigator of research in haptics, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, human-robot interfaces, and more.
Before LTU, James was a post-doctoral research fellow in the Haptosphere Lab at Bentley University in Massachusetts. There, he participated in National Science Foundation funded research into tactile haptics and cognitive psychology. Before that, he was a faculty instructor and research and development scientist at STRAC Institute, an electronics industry school in Rhode Island, and a researcher at Brown University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and collaborated with Harvard Medical School. He also worked on haptics research and software development in Germany, India, Italy, and Japan.
James earned a Ph.D. in computer science from India’s Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University and a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication engineering from India’s Kannur University. He has published or co-authored nearly 20 publications in scientific journals and is the winner of numerous academic awards.
At LTU, James is teaching Robot Operating Systems, Unified Robotics, Computer Vision, Micro Controllers Programming, Haptics, and Virtual Reality classes.
James called joining LTU “an exciting opportunity for several reasons,” including LTU’s commitment to hands-on, project-based learning, which he said aligns with his teaching philosophy, LTU’s strong industry connections, and the chance to start his own laboratory within LTU’s existing robotics labs.
“By establishing a lab, I hope to open new avenues for students and faculty to explore tactile feedback, human-machine interaction, and immersive technologies, which are becoming increasingly relevant in modern robotics,” James said, adding that he’ll seek support for the research from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Institutes of Health, as well as companies in robotics, virtual reality, and healthcare technologies.
Abdulaziz Allahdan, project engineer, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Abdulaziz Allahdan, who earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Lawrence Tech in 2022, has returned to the university as a project engineer in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Allahdan was previously a graduate assistant at the University of Detroit Mercy, where he earned a Master of Electrical and Computer Engineering in May 2024.
At LTU, Allahdan’s duties include managing seven labs connected with the ECE department.
“I’m making sure the labs are up to safety standards, making sure professors’ needs are met, and making sure equipment is properly maintained and upgraded so students work on equipment they will see in industry,” he said. He also writes technical manuals for LTU’s industry-level lab equipment.
Of particular interest is the LTU printed circuit board (PCB) laboratory, where he reviews student PCB designs to make sure they are indeed printable.
Allahdan said his ultimate career goal is in the PCB industry, improving circuit board designs.
He said he chose LTU for his undergraduate studies based on a recommendation from his brother, an LTU mechanical engineering student. While at LTU, he was on the SAE Formula Electric 2019 powertrain team. He was also a summa cum laude LTU graduate and a member of the Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi honor societies.
