SmartEN ITN

Name: Dr. Vasileios Dertimanis

Vasileios K. Dertimanis received the Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece (2000) and the Ph.D. Degree from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece (2006), in the area of modeling and identification of faults in mechanical systems. His research interests are in the area of system identification and structural health monitoring, including model-based methods, robust residual generation for detection and isolation, linear and non-linear parameter estimation, hybrid optimization, experimental modal analysis, statistical time-series assessment and adaptive signal processing, with applications to the estimation, monitoring and real-time hybrid testing of structural systems He is the author of up to 42 papers in technical journals, book chapters and conference proceedings, reviewer of papers submitted to international journal and conferences and reviewer of proposals submitted to the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (Greece).

Name: Rohan Soman
Nationality: Indian
Position: Early Stage Researcher
Education: B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering, Pune
MSc. in Engineering Design from University of Manchester
(Thesis: Use of Model Updation Technique for Damage Detection in Structures)
Interests: Computational Dynamics, Vibration Analysis for Damage Detection
Hobbies: Cricket, Football, Rowing, Table Tennis, Badminton

Name: Alexios Ioannidis

Alexios Ioannidis was born in Kavala, Greece in 1986. He received his Diploma (5-year ptychion) in Civil Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 2009. His thesis title was “Analysis of the anthropogenic interventions and environmental problems in the coastal area of Eastern department of Thermaikos Gulf in Thessaloniki according to the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)”. During the period 2009-2010, he worked as a site civil engineer in a construction company in Thessaloniki, Greece. In 2011, he received his Master of Science degree in Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. His thesis title was “Analysis of the energy performance of the Surveying Engineering Building at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki according to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD)”. Currently, he holds a position as an Early Stage Researcher at the Cyprus University of Technology.

Name: Dr. Jorge Plata Chaves

Position: Experienced Researcher

Jorge Plata Chaves was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1984. He received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain, in 2007, 2009, and 2012, respectively, all in electrical engineering, with a specialization in Multimedia and Communications.

From 2007 to 2012, he was with the Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universidad de Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. He is currently working as an ER Marie Curie fellow at the Research Academic Computer Technology Institute (RACTI) in Patras, Greece. His research interests are in information theory and statistical signal processing with application to detection, estimation and localization in wireless mobile sensor networks and smart grids.

Name: Nikola Bogdanović

Position: Early Stage Researcher

I am Nikola Bogdanović and I was born on September 13, 1983, in Niš, Serbia. I have obtained integrated Bachelor and Master degree in Electrical Engineering and Computing from the Department of Telecommunications, Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Niš, Serbia.
My work focuses on broadcasting TV systems and microwave links design, as well as acoustics. Right now, I am doing a research in WP2-Sensor Signal Processing at Research Academic Computer Technology Institute (RACTI) in Patras, Greece.
I have a great variety of other interests, such as philosophy, history, EU politics. I speak are English, Bulgarian, Greek.

Name: Dr. Konstantinos Zavitsas

Position: Experienced Researcher

Dr Konstantinos Zavitsas has a Masters of Engineering in Civil Engineering (2006) and a PhD in Operational Research and Transport (2011) from Imperial College London. As a PhD candidate he conducted research on the operation and management of transport networks focusing on the vulnerability of the oil supply chain. For his PhD he worked on the simulation of global oil trade, taking into consideration the existing oil supply chain infrastructure and looking for potential design improvements. The oil supply vulnerability assessment was conducted using an innovative algorithm that utilised game theory. As a Research Assistant (2010) he was involved in the European Union funded (FP7) research project CONDUITS, where he worked in a team of leading experts in the field of traffic management and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This project aimed at developing performance prediction indicators to assist urban transport authorities in making investment decisions. Research involved gathering and processing data from local transport authorities (40 European cities) aiming to benchmark transport technologies and establish state-of-the-art of transport management in Europe. His duties included assessing the impact of transport technology and transport management schemes in terms of mobility, efficiency, environmental impact and safety.

Name: Jelena Skulic

Position: Early Stage Researcher

Jelena Skulic received her Engineering Diploma degree (equiv. to MEng) in Electrical Engineering, with a specialization in Communications and Information Technologies, from the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia in 2009. She received a MSc degree in Information, Communications and Audiovisual technologies from the University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain in 2010. Jelena also worked as a teaching and research assistant at University of Pompeu Fabra during 2009 and 2010.
She is currently research assistant and PhD candidate at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London. She is a member of the Communications and Signal Processing Group, and her research interests include wireless sensor networks, in-network coding, and in-network processing.

Name: Bo Han

Position: Early Stage Researcher

BSc in Physics, 2006. BSc in Computer Science, Ocean University of China. Qingdao, China.

MSc in Microelectronics 2010, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. During Master Degree studies he was an Exchange student at Delft University of Technology.

Name: Manoj Banugondi Rajashekara

Manoj Banugondi Rajashekara was born in Mysore, India in 1986. He received the B.E. degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University, India in 2007 and the M.Tech degree specialized in Signal Processing from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India in 2011.
From 2008-2009, he worked as a faculty at Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysore, India. From July 2011-April 2012, he worked as a Member Technical Staff at Saankhya Labs Private Ltd., Bangalore, India and from April 2012-August 2012, he was a Project Associate at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
He is currently working towards the Ph.D. degree at the Broadband and Wireless Sensor Networks Department, Athens Information Technology, Athens, Greece.
His research interests include Digital Signal Processing, Source Coding and Network Coding.

Name: Helder Sousa

Position: Experienced Researcher

Helder Sousa, presently working as an Experienced Researcher in the University of Surrey, is specializing in Bridge Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). His expertise focuses on project design, field implementation and assessment of structural behaviour through data-based engineering techniques.

Received his PhD in 2012 with the work entitled: "Data-based engineering techniques for the management of concrete bridges". The monitoring data collected by an integrated monitoring system (up to 400 sensors) installed in the Leziria Bridge, a full scale bridge recently built in Portugal and the second longest bridge in Europe, is the bottom line of all work developed. Seven manuscripts submitted/published in international journals set the thesis structure.

With focus on bridge management based on monitoring data, his research interests include design and optimization of monitoring systems, sensor holders development, laboratory and field experiments, software packages development devoted to data acquisition, processing and pattern recognition (LabVIEW, MATLAB and C++) and thorough Finite Element Modelling to support monitoring data analysis (DIANA, Delft).

Before joining the University of Surrey, Helder was a doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Engineering in the University of Porto in Portugal and co-founder member of a specialized company in SHM.

Name: Leticia Llano Trueba

Position: Early Stage Researcher

Leticia Llano Trueba joined University of Surrey as a Research Fellow in December 2010, as an ESR in SmartEN ITN programme. She obtained the degree of Civil Engineering (Ingeniero de Caminos, Canales y Puertos) at the School of Civil Engineering in Santander, University of Cantabria (Spain) in June 2010. During the last year of her studies she was an exchange student in VIA University College (Denmark), where she began to be interested in international working groups and international experiences. Her interest on structures, clearly reflected in her final degree project, is focused in the area of structural calculation and road construction. The latter led to her first professional position in a consultancy office in Sofia (Bulgaria).

Name: Umut Yildirim

Position: Early Stage Researcher

Umut Yıldırım is currently a PhD student in the department of Structural Mechanics at University of Pavia. He is studying on the active and semi-active control of structures. Before that, he was involved in a research project as a researcher due to explore the potentialities of sandwich slab that consists of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) profile and Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) in structural sustainability group (ISISE) at University of Minho, Portugal. He had a work experience for six years as a senior control engineer for an engineering consultancy firm, which is responsible for the assessment of the engineering projects and control of the construction process due to design codes. Simultaneously, heading for deepening his knowledge, he was admitted and completed MSc degree in Civil Engineering programme at İzmir Institute of Technology. His master thesis is entitled as “Earthquake Response of R/C Frames with Reinforced Infill Walls”. He had focused on a numerical investigation that was carried out to study the behaviour of a strengthened infilled reinforced concrete frame using wire mesh under lateral reversed cyclic loading. In addition, his BSc thesis was completed as named as “Designing and Planning of RC Highway Bridges”. His bachelor thesis involved the designing the slabs and beams of RC bridge with retaining walls related to traffic induced loadings.

Name: Shuxian Hong

Position: Early Stage Researcher

Nationality: China
Education: Master in Structural of Civil Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal
Research Topic: Non-Destructive Testing Techniques for Corrosion Investigation in Reinforced Concrete

Name: Khash-Erdene Jalsan

Position: Early Stage Researcher

Education:
Currently PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Doctoral School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, EPFL, Switzerland
2003 - 2004 Master in Computer Science, Department of Computer Science, Mongolian University of Science and Technology
1999 - 2003 Bachelor in Computer Science, Department of Computer Science, Mongolian University of Science and Technology
Working Experience:
2004 - 2010 Instructor, Department of Computer Science, Mongolian University of Science and Technology

Name: David Conti

Position: Experienced Researcher

My name is David Conti, and I am both Italian and Austrian. I obtained a MSc in Mathematics from University of Pisa (Italy), with a master thesis in commutative algebra. After obtaining my MSc I spent one year at University of Kansas (USA) as a graduate student and a research&teaching assistant in the Department of Mathematics. At the same time, after attending conferences on inspiring applications of algebra, I was attracted to communications engineering problems with strong interplay with mathematics. In 2008 I thus joined the Claude Shannon Institute at University College Dublin (Ireland) as a PhD student in the mathematics of communications. My PhD education involved mainly coding theory and related discrete mathematics. I obtained the PhD in 2012 with a thesis on trellis representations of codes. During my PhD I also held a tutor position in the UCD School of Mathematical Sciences and the UCD Maths Support Center. In 2013 I joined Telecom ParisTech as a postdoctoral researcher in the area of space-time coding. My interests include also general codes on graphs, LDPC&HDPC codes, algebraic codes, iterative&LP decoding, and network coding.

Name: Asma Mejri

Position: Early Stage Researcher

Asma Mejri was born in Tunis, Tunisia in 1986. She received the engineering degree in Telecommunications from the Higher School of Communication of Tunis (SUP'COM), and the Master degree in Broadband Systems from the same school in 2010. She is currently a PHD student at the Communications and Electronic Department at Telecom-ParisTech (ex-ENST), France. She received certificates on customized GSM systems and Customized Minilink Overview from Ericsson Tunisia in 2010. In 2009, she participated on the First International School on Cyber-Physical and Sensor Networks in Monastir, Tunisia. At the same year, she received the best Entrepreneurship Project Award at The Entrepreneurship Challenge organized by SUP'COM. Asma was a Microsoft Student Partner for the year 2009-2010. She speaks Arabic, French, English, Spanish and little German. She likes playing football and listening to music.

Name: Onur Oguz

Position: Early Stage Researcher

I was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1979. I received the B.Sc. and M.Sc.
degrees in Electronics Engineering from the ISIK University, Istanbul, Turkey. I'm currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Telecommunication Engineering program at the Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium.
Between 2006 and 2011, I was a Research Assistant in the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Electronics and Applied Mathematics (ICTEAM) of UCL. While in UCL, I have participated in several EU Projects such as Coopcom, Newcom(++), WiMagic. Since 2011 I've been a member of the R&D team of Comsis at Paris, France.

Name: Isaac Farreras Alcover

Position: Early Stage Researcher

My name is Isaac Farreras Alcover and I was born in 1985 in Barcelona. I decided to study Civil Engineering in Barcelona (UPC- Universitat Poltècnica de Catalunya). After the first 3 years of my studies, I was accepted in a double degree programme in the "École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, ENPC", Paris, where I completed my studies. My Master research thesis focused on wind-induced accelerations on skyscrapers. After obtaining the Civil Engineering degree in France, I came back to Barcelona to also defend my thesis. Once graduated in Barcelona, I started to work on the design of steel liners for the pools of an EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) nuclear power plant and on the structural design of an urban tunnel. Right now I am working as a researcher at the Department for Major Bridges, Section for Structural Dynamics, in COWI, Denmark, within the SmartEN Research Project. I speak Catalan, Spanish, English and French and I am trying to learn Danish.

Name: Evripides Karseras

Position: Early Stage Researcher

I studied at the Computer Engineering and Informatics Department in Patras, Greece. I attended a five-year undergraduate curriculum with great emphasis on signal processing, telecommunications, image processing and hardware design during the last two years. My diploma thesis dealt with blind source separation and signal extraction. My current interests, among others, include sparse signal representation and compression. Currently I work at DFL systems as an ESR for SmartEN.