Dr. Narendra Nath Puri was a professor of Electrical Engineering at Rutgers for 38 years. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He was intentional about moving Rutgers Engineering forward and countless students, faculty, staff, and alumni have benefited from his efforts. Dr. Puri passed away on Dec. 4, 2015, at the age of 82. Dr. Puri’s wife, Dr. Kamal Puri, has generously donated this scholarship in honor of her husband and his work.
2023-2024
For the 2023-2024 academic year, the Narendra Puri Scholar has been awarded to three students Andrew Xie and Jiankun Jiang.
My name is Andrew Xie and I'm a first-year M.S. student in the ECE department. I graduated from Rutgers undergrad in 2023 with a B.S. in Computer Engineering and a B.S. in Computer Science, and am excited to be pursuing an M.S. in Computer Engineering with a specialization in Software Engineering. I'm interested in cloud computing and big data processing and I'd like to gain familiarity with widely-used distributed technologies like Hadoop, Spark, and Elasticsearch. I hope to expand my understanding both in theory and in practice to leverage toward high impact projects in the future.
My name is Jiankun Jiang. As second year master student majoring in computer engineering at Rutgers, I have always been deeply passionate about high performance compute and machine learning. The Puri Scholarship, to me, represents more than just financial support; it's a recognization of the research efforts I've dedicated myself to over the past year. Such recognition would not only be a source of great pride but also a powerful motivator, spurring me to continue forging ahead in my research and learning endeavors, continually striving for excellence and innovation.
2022-2023
For the 2022-2023 academic year, the Narendra Puri Scholar has been awarded to three students Mahtab Kokabi, Muhammad Ahsan Sami, and Demetrios Lambropolous.
Mahtab Kokabi received her MSc degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in August 2021. She is currently a PhD student working with Dr. Mehdi Javanmard in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University. Her research focuses on the Nanofabrication, microfluidic devices, and biosensors.
Muhammad Ahsan Sami received a B.S. in Mechatronics Engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan, in 2017, and an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University in 2021. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Umer Hassan at the Laboratory of Immuno-engineering and Micro-nano technologies for Personalized Healthcare(LMPH), Rutgers. His research interests include the development of optical and impedance-based Bio-MEMS devices for point-of-care (POC) disease diagnosis and therapeutics.
Demetrios Lambropolous is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, after receiving his BS and MS from the same institution. Under the supervision of Professor Narayan B. Mandayam at the Wireless Information Network Laboratory (WINLAB), he is actively engaged in multiple research projects on wireless communication. His research interests include machine learning techniques for optimization and decision-making, resource allocation in wireless networks, human-computer interaction design, and security in emerging technologies.
2021-2022
For the 2021-2022 academic year, the Narendra Puri Scholar has been awarded to two students, Kimberly Chang and Kebin Li.
Kimberly Chang is a second year M.S. degree student. In May 2020, she graduated from Rutgers with a B.S. in Computer Engineering, a B.S. in Computer Science with a minor in Japanese, and a Recording Arts Certificate. Her interests include machine learning, data science, and parallel programming.
Kebin Li is a master student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University, pursuing his ECE Combined BS/Master’s Degrees. He currently working on the real-time communication topic with Prof. Yingying Chen as advisor. His interests lie in web and mobile software development, especially on deep learning application.
2020-2021
Jeffrey Isaacs
Jeffrey Isaacs is an MS student working independently on global localization for indoor autonomous mobile robots. He received his undergraduate degree in computer engineering at Rutgers in 2019. His research focuses on 2D map processing, sensor fusion, and covariance tracking across multiple sensor modalities.
Zhaoyi Xu
Zhaoyi Xu received his B.E at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in May 2018. He currently is a PhD student working with Dr. Athina Petropulu in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University. His research focuses on the dual-function radar communication system and MIMO radar.
Shounak Rangwala
I am a second year Masters student specializing in Computer Engineering. My interests lie in software development incorporating principles of parallel computing and deep learning. I am grateful to all my professors, especially Prof. Shantenu Jha and Prof. Ivan Seskar, for giving me the opportunity of working on projects in these fields. I am currently working as a researcher, in WINLAB, on my project regarding the design of self-driving cars using ROS. My spare time is divided between watching football (GO CHIEFS!!) and working on pet web-application projects. My goal is to put my skills to use by joining the industry after I graduate.
2019-2020
Intessar Al-Iedani received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the Department of Computer Engineering, University of Basra, Iraq, in 2003 and 2006, respectively. She worked as an assistant instructor at the Department of Computer Engineering, University of Basra, Iraq, from 2007 to 2012. After receiving a Graduate fellowship from the Higher Committee for Education Development in Iraq (HCED) in 2012, she started pursuing her PhD study at Rutgers University. Intessar received a Graduate Fellowship from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University for the academic years of 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. She is currently a candidate Ph.D. student studying under the guidance of Prof. Zoran Gajic. Intessar’s research focuses on the order reduction of large-scale wind energy systems with double fed induction generators (DFIG) using the balancing and singular perturbation methods.
Lingyi Xu is an MS student working with Dr. Zoran Gajic as her advisor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University. Her research is focused on control systems, computer vision and robotics. Lingyi recently received her MS at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in May 2017. Her thesis was titled, “Monocular Visual Measurement for Mobile Robot.”
2018-2019
Intessar Al-Iedani received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the Department of Computer Engineering, University of Basra, Iraq, in 2003 and 2006, respectively. She worked as an assistant instructor at the Department of Computer Engineering, University of Basra, Iraq, from 2007 to 2012. After receiving a Graduate fellowship from the Higher Committee for Education Development in Iraq (HCED) in 2012, she started pursuing her PhD study at Rutgers University. Intessar received a Graduate Fellowship from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University for the academic years of 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. She is currently a candidate Ph.D. student studying under the guidance of Prof. Zoran Gajic. Intessar’s research focuses on the order reduction of large-scale wind energy systems with double fed induction generators (DFIG) using the balancing and singular perturbation methods.
Lingyi Xu is a PhD student working with Dr. Zoran Gajic as her advisor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University. Her research is focused on control systems, computer vision and robotics. Lingyi recently received her MS at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in May 2017. Her thesis was titled, “Monocular Visual Measurement for Mobile Robot.”
2017-2018
Lingyi Xu is an MS student working with Dr. Zoran Gajic as her advisor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University. Her research is focused on control systems, computer vision and robotics. Lingyi recently received her MS at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in May 2017. Her thesis was titled, “Monocular Visual Measurement for Mobile Robot.”
Jiarong Chen is an MS student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University. Prior to joining Rutgers, Jiarong earned his undergraduate degree in Automation Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2012 via the 3+2 cooperative program with Rutgers. His research interests are in Control and Automation, especially in high-speed scan using Atomic Force Microscope. Jiarong Chen is advised by Dr. Qingze Zou in the MAE department of Rutgers.
