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Research Group: An Introduction for Prospective Students and Postdocs
The Frey Research Group encompasses research and
educational opportunities at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral
level.
The Frey Research Group is international, including students and
alumni of the group from
Undergraduate Research Experiences. The
Frey Research Group has included numerous undergraduate research assistants,
some through Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs and some
via Undergraduate Research Awards. Undergraduate
students have been involved closely in field work, analysis of data, and development
of models and software. For undergraduate
students interested in doing research in the Frey group, NC State University offers
undergraduate research awards which provide financial support for qualified
undergraduates on a competitive basis.
Anyone interested in applying for such an award in conjunction with research
that could be carried out in the Frey Research Group is encouraged to contact
Dr. Frey early in the Fall of each academic year. Applications for undergraduate research
awards are typically due early in the fall.
At the Graduate level, the activities of the Frey Research Group are exemplified by the final
product of scholarly work, which is the master’s thesis or PhD
dissertation. These are listed
below. Nearly all of the graduate
research assistants have produced or contributed to technical reports as well
as conference and journal papers. The
research methods range from computer-based modeling and simulation of process
technologies or environmental systems to field-work involving measurement of
real-world vehicle activity, fuel use, and emissions.
Prospective graduate students who are interested in joining the Frey Research
Group should apply
for admission to the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering,
and indicate a preference for the Water Resources and Environmental Engineering
program. In the statement of purpose, it
is helpful to specifically indicate interest in joining Dr. Frey’s group
and to explain relevant background, interests, and examples of ideas for
research that is likely to be of mutual interest. Financial aid is available in the form of
stipend, health insurance, and tuition but is often highly competitive. Those seeking financial aid should clearly
indicate their interest in a research assistantship, a teaching assistantship,
or either.
The research program is
supported by relevant courses at both
the undergraduate and graduate level.
For example, Dr. Frey teaches CE 476/576 Air Pollution Control, CE
479/579 Air Quality, and CE/NE 772 Environmental Exposure and Risk
Assessment. Graduate students in Dr.
Frey’s group typically take these courses, as well as other courses in
environmental engineering, other engineering disciplines (most typically
chemical engineering), physical and mathematical sciences (e.g., marine, earth,
and atmospheric sciences; statistics), natural resources (e.g., geographic
information systems), and elsewhere within NC State’s 10 schools and colleges. Students at NC State may register for classes
at
There have been numerous post-doctoral research associates (“postdocs”) who have been part of the Frey Research
Group. These postdocs
have been successful not only in conducting high quality research and producing
contributions to knowledge via conference presentations, conference papers,
journal papers, and technical reports, but many have been active in developing
new research areas and continue to do so throughout their careers.
Many of the projects
conducted by the Frey group are collaborative with other faculty and involve
teams of faculty and students and possibly postdocs. Some projects involve collaboration between
undergraduate and graduate research assistants.
Some projects might be conducted independently by one research assistant,
working closely with Dr. Frey. At any
given time, there are typically multiple research projects being conducted
concurrently in related areas. Thus,
even for students who are working independently on a topic area, there is still
comraderie with other students who may be using
similar methods in related areas. For
all students and postdocs in the group, there is
regular contact with Dr. Frey.
Graduates of the Frey Group
have taken positions most typically at universities, consulting firms, engineering
products companies, government agencies, and nonprofit research institutes,
representing a variety of interests ranging from highly applied engineering or
science to policy-oriented implementation or planning.
The titles of the theses and
dissertations given below provide an indication of the variety of research
topics that have been the focus of work by undergraduate research assistants,
graduate research assistants, and postdocs in the
Frey group.
THESES AND DISSERTATIONS
1.
Pankaj Agarwal,
MS Thesis, “Modeling and Assessment of the Externally-Fired Combined
Cycle System,”
graduated December 1995. Available in NCSU’s D.H.
Library under LD3921 .Civil
2.
Mitesh Kini,
MS Thesis, “Probabilistic Modeling of Exhaust Emissions from Light Duty
Gasoline Vehicles,” graduated December 1996. Available
in NCSU’s
D.H. Library under LD3921 .Civil
3.
Loan K. Tran, MS
Thesis, “Performance and Cost Modeling of NOx
Combustion Control Technologies in Pulverized Coal Power Plants,”
graduated December 1996. Available in NCSU’s D.H.
Library under LD3921 .Civil
4.
Kamalpreet Singh, MS
Thesis, “Uncertainty Analysis in Air Quality Modeling,” graduated
December 1997. Available in NCSU’s
D.H. Library under LD3921 .Civil
5.
David Rhodes, MS
Thesis, “Quantitative Analysis of Variability and Uncertainty in Environmental
Risk Assessment,” graduation August 1997.
Available in NCSU’s D.H.
Library under LD3921 .Civil
6.
Ranjit Bharvirkar,
MS
Thesis, “Quantification of Variability and Uncertainty in Emission
Factors and Emission Inventories,” May 1999.
7.
Alper Unal,
MS
Thesis, “Modeling of Highway Vehicle Emissions Using Remote Sensing
Data,” May 1999.
8.
Naveen Akunuri,
MS
Thesis, “Process Modeling of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
Systems Using
9.
Russell Dalton,
MS, 1999, “Empirical modeling of the effects of traffic characteristics
on vehicle emissions,” (co-chair with Nagui M. Rouphail). Available in NCSU’s D.H. Libraryunder LD3921 .Civil
10.
Sudeep Vaswani,
MS
Thesis, "Development of Models for Calculating the Life Cycle
Inventory of Methanol by Liquid Phase and Conventional Production
Processes," June 2000 (co-chair with M.A. Barlaz).
11.
Matthew Pickett, MS Thesis,
"Modeling the Performance and Emissions of British Gas/Lurgi-Based
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Systems," January 2001 (co-chair
with M.A. Barlaz)
12.
Colyar, James
Daniel, MS Thesis, "An Empirical
Study of the Relationships Between Macroscopic Traffic
Parameters and Vehicle Emissions," March 2001 (co-chair with Nagui Rouphail).
13.
Coehlo, Maysa, PhD Dissertation, "Evaluation of Alternative
Future Energy Scenarios for
14.
Bammi, Sachin, MS Thesis, "Quantitative
Analysis of Variability and Uncertainty in On-Road and Non-Road Mobile Source
Emission Factors," July 2001 (chair)
15.
Patil, Sumeet R., MS Thesis,
“Identification, Application, and Comparison of Sensitivity Analysis
Methods for Food Safety Risk Assessment Models,” August 2001 (chair)
16.
Xie, Chi, MS Thesis, “Modeling the
Performance and Emissions of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle based Lurgi Ammonia Synthesis System,” December 2001
(chair)
17.
Zheng, Junyu, PhD Dissertation,
“Quantification of Variability and Uncertainty in Emission
Estimation: General Methodology and
Software Implementation,” May 2002 (chair)
18.
Li, Minsheng,
MS Thesis, “Life Cycle Inventory
Development for a Solid Waste/Coal Blend Gasification System for Production of
Power and Chemicals,” August 2002 (co-chair with M. Barlaz).
19.
Unal, Alper, PhD Dissertation,
“On-Board Measurement and Analysis of On-Road Vehicle Emissions,”
August 2002 (chair).
20.
Li, Song, PhD Dissertation, “Development
and Demonstration of a Methodology for Characterizing and Managing Uncertainty
and Variability in Emission Inventories,” August 2002 (chair).
21.
Abdel-Aziz, Amr, PhD Dissertation,
“Incorporating Uncertainties in Emission Inventories Into
Air Quality Modeling,” December 2002 (chair).
22.
Chen, Jianjun,
MS Thesis, “Optimization
of Gasification Combined Cycle Systems Under
Variability and Uncertainty,” July 2003 (chair).
23.
Danish, Tanwir,
MS Thesis, “Evaluation of
Selected Sensitivity Analysis Methods Applied to a Food Safety Risk
Model,” July 2003 (chair).
24.
Zhao, Yuchao,
PhD Dissertation,
“Quantification of Variability and Uncertainty in Emission Factors and
Emission Inventories for Urban Air Toxics,” August 2003 (chair).
25.
Mokhtari, Amirhossein, PhD
Dissertation, “Evaluation of Sensitivity Analysis Methods for
Application to Microbial Food Safety Process Risk Models,” July 2004.
26.
Zhu, Yunhua, PhD
Dissertation, “Evaluation of Gas Turbine and Gasifier-Based
Power Generation Systems,” August 2004.
27.
Phillips, Lori
Ann, MS
Thesis, “Public Perception of Indoor Air Quality and Evaluation of
Indoor Air Cleaners,” May 2006.
28.
Abolhasani, Saeed, MS Thesis,
“Assessment of On-Board Emissions and Energy Use of Nonroad
Construction Vehicles,” August 2006.
29.
Zhang, Kaishan, PhD
Dissertation, “Micro-Scale On-Road Vehicle-Specific Emissions
Measurements and Modeling,” August 2006.
30.
Kim, Kangwook, PhD
Dissertation, “Operational Evaluation of In-Use Emissions and Fuel Consumption
of B20 Biodiesel versus Petroleum Diesel-Fueled Onroad Heavy-Duty Diesel Dump Trucks and Nnonroad Construction Vehicles,” December 2007.
31.
Zhai, Haibo,
PhD Dissertation, “Regional Onroad Mobile
Source Emissions Characterization for Conventional and Alternative Vehicle
Technologies,” December 2007.
32.
Pang, Shih-hao, PhD Dissertation, “Life Cycle Inventory
Incorporating Real-World In-Use Measurement Data for Nonroad
Construction Vehicles and Equipment,” December 2007.