Faculty

Rupa Purasinghe, Ph.D., P.E.
Chair, Principal Advisor

Office: E&T A-337a
Phone: (323) 343-4459
Email: [email protected]

Computer-Aided Design/ Experimentation, Structural Analysis/Design, Finite Element Method for Stress Analysis

Office Hours @ ET A-337A
Fall 2025
T: 10:30 am to 11:30 am
W: 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm
TH: 10:30 am to 11:30 am
And by appointment

Visit Dr. Purasinghe's Homepage

David Blekhman, Ph.D.

Office: E&T A-137
Phone: (323) 343-4569
Email: [email protected]

Sustainable Energy and Transportation, Engineering Technology

Office Hours @ ET A137, or H2 Station, or Zoom
Fall 2025
T and TH: 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm 
And by appointment

Visit Dr. Blekhman's Homepage

Mauricio Castillo, Ph.D.
Engineering Technology Advisor

Office: E&T A-339
Phone: (323) 343-4573
Email: [email protected]

Industrial Technology, STEM/Technology Education, and Engineering Education

Office Hours @ ET A339 or Zoom
Fall 2025
T: 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
And by appointment

Visit Dr. Castillo's Homepage

Xiaolei Chen, Ph.D.
Fire Protection Advisor

Office: E&T A-336
Phone: (323) 343-4567
Email: [email protected]

Building and Fire Protection Engineering

Office Hours on Zoom
Fall 2025
T: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
And by appointment

Visit Dr. Chen's Homepage

Yilin Feng, Ph.D.

Office: E&T A-428a
Phone: (323) 343-4554
Email: [email protected]

Airport Operation and Management, Airport Simulation, Airport Sustainability

Office Hours @ A-428a or Zoom
Fall 2025
T: 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
And by appointment

Visit Dr. Feng's Homepage

Rachel Friedman, Ph.D.
Director of Aviation Administration

Office: E&T A-409
Phone: (323) 343-4563
Email: [email protected]

Aviation business, single pilot resource management, single pilot operations for multi-engine aircraft, airline transport pilot shortage

Office Hours @ ET A409 and Zoom
Fall 2025
W: 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm
And by appointment

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Ankit Gupta, Ph.D.

Conventional and advanced manufacturing processes, material science, mechanics of materials, additive manufacturing technologies, solid and computational modeling, processing and characterization of composite materials, finite element modeling/analysis

Office Hours @ ET 428C
Fall 2025
T and TH: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

Jai Hong, Ph.D.
MSIM Advisor

Office: E&T A-338
Phone: (323) 343-4558
Email: [email protected]

Engineering Technology/Manufacturing Processes & Automation

Office Hours @ ET A 338 or Zoom
Fall 2025
M and W: 9:00 am to 10:45 am
And by appointment

Visit Dr. Hong's Homepage

Benjamin Lee, Ph.D., FERP*

Office: E&T A-334
Email: [email protected]

Graphic Communications, Print Management

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Paul Liu, Ph.D., FERP*

Office: E&T A-222
Phone: (323) 343-4570
Email: [email protected]

Industrial Technology/Manufacturing Processes & Automation

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Stephanie Nelson, Ph.D., FERP*

Office: E&T A-334
Email: [email protected]

Technical and Professional Communication, Professional Development, Organizational Leadership

Office Hours on Zoom or by Email
Fall 2025
W: 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm on Zoom by appointment
M to F: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm by Email

Visit Dr. Nelson's Homepage

Michael Thomas, MA

Office: E&T A-428C
Phone: (323) 343-4566
Email: [email protected]