Talented Engineering professional with an extensive and diverse background in Electrical Engineering, Transportation, Economics, Industrial technology, product development and design, with proven experience in project implementation and continuous improvement processes. An effective problem solver with the ability to synthesize complex problems and come up with practical and actionable solutions. Part of the core team carrying out research and development in the advancement of railroad technology.
Work History
Principal Systems Engineer
6 Years 7 Months
MxV Rail | 01.2020 - Current
Train Control Principal Technical Lead and Resource Manager carrying out research related to current and next generation train control technology and railway operations.
Managing and coordinate tasks of project teams of 5-10 members for several next generation Train Control Projects.
Direct manager of seven engineers.
Develop project plans and scopes for multiple research projects covering next generation train control systems and enabling technologies each ranging in value from $500,000 - $2,000,000
Support fellow engineers in different capacities.
Presented key research findings at train control conferences such as American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way (AREMA) and IHHA Conferences.
Coordinated work activities of the ATC Operations Support Engineers and Field Engineers across 10,000 miles of Norfolk Southern (NS) System scheduled for PTC (Positive Train Control) implementation.
Led the alpha,beta and end to end testing and initial implementation of CTC traffic over ITCM initiative (Patent US10160466B1).
Developed concepts to leverage the Positive Train Control Network for the development of a secondary Machine to Machine Network that will allow the railroads to generate new revenue streams of over $5 million annually from the IoT/M2M marketplace.
Played key role in designing in-house support solutions and structures that resulted in the continuous monitoring and improvement of the deployed hardware and software.
Manage the wayside support for the initial User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Field Qualification Testing (FQT) and Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) of active line segments.
Member and company representative of the Integrated Train Control(ITC)-Wayside sub-committee that defines reviews and approves the standards for wayside interoperability and functions for all Class 1 railroads in North America.
Engineer:Positive/Automatic Train Control (PTC/ATC)
2 Years 7 Months
Norfolk Southern Corporation | 09.2010 - 04.2013
Team member on the multi-year, multi billion dollar Positive Train Control project, responsible for upgrading and testing Interlocking/Control Points software and hardware and the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) across the 10,000 miles of Norfolk Southern (NS) System
Implemented and approved design control procedures for the acceptance of all vendor submitted wayside PTC hardware and software in accordance with Norfolk Southern and Federal Railroad Authority (FRA) guidelines. Vendors included Invensys, Siemens, Oracle, General Electric, Alstom and LileeSystems
Saved the company over $250,000 annually by working closely with the vendors to identify opportunities to reduce costs
Wrote protocols, qualification documents, test plans and test reports for qualification, testing and integration of PTC hardware and software into the current NS signals system
Assisted and supported the ATC/PTC managers in leading the internal delivery process.
Management Trainee
1 Year 4 Months
Norfolk Southern Corporation | 05.2009 - 09.2010
Completed 13 months of rotations in various departments. The departments included; Transportation, Marketing, Mechanical, Maintenance of Way and Communications and Signals (C&S)
Developed and Completed a Six Sigma Greenbelt certification through a process improvement project that was shown to lead to improvements in C&S processes and cost savings
Part of a team that developed and took part in a corporate training video for use in promoting buy-in to companies green initiatives.
Managed Communications and Signal maintainers on various main line territories as a stand in territory supervisor for supervisors. Territories included the high traffic crescent corridor between Washington DC and New Orleans.
Completed advanced course work in railroad signals wayside and crossing signal systems, defect detectors, automatic equipment identification (AEI) systems, and classification yard systems
Completed various leadership, presentation and communication workshops
Graduate Research Assistant
1 Year 4 Months
Southeastern Louisiana University | 08.2007 - 12.2008
Completed course work in Operations and Project management
Built a semi-autonomous robot as part of the course work
Setup and taught robotics and computer numerical control (CNC) machining laboratory coursework to undergraduate students
Carried out graduate research work on distributed renewable energy systems, controls and sensors that were submitted for publishing
Managed or part of multiple projects, in Asia, Africa and Europe ranging in value from $75,000- $1000000.[See list of projects I worked on in the Project Portfolio Section]
Provided support project management and research and analysis expertise to fellow consultants in offices in China, The United Kingdom, South Africa and Bulgaria.Deemed a profitable employee after only 6 months on the job
Developed or part of a team that developed local and international proposals related to energy in response to RFPs from organizations such as the World Bank/IFC
Trained technicians in solar PV installation best practices
Liaised with local and international clients and vendors such as World Bank/International Finance Corporation
Student Technical Assistant
5 Years
University of Missouri-Rolla | 08.1999 - 08.2004
Technical assistant at the Design Engineering Laboratory at the University of Missouri-Rolla where I assisted graduate students in their research work and carried out functional analysis on common appliances for addition to product repository that is still used for further research in Design Engineering
Participant in the Opportunities for Undergraduate Research (O.U.R.E) Program at UMR. where I completed and presented research work on the novel concept of 'Design by Analogy'
Designed and built a battery monitoring interface for a department owned GM EV-1 Electric car for my senior project
Education
Master of Science - Integrated Science and Technology
Southeastern Louisiana University | Hammond, Louisiana
Concentration Industrial Technology
Bachelor of Science - Electrical Engineering
University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) | Rolla, Missouri
Minor Economics
Course Work - Industrial And Systems Engineering
University of Huntsville-Alabama | Huntsville, Alabama
Courses completed
Reliability Engineering
Systems Engineering
Operations Research
Electronics Manufacturing
Skills
Project Management and Implementation
Six Sigma and Continuous Improvement
Decision analysis methodology
Sensors
Controls and Robotics
Transportation Systems
Process Engineering
Internet of Things (IOT) and Machine to Machine (M2M)
Modeling and Simulation
Electric Propulsion Vehicles
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Neural Networks
Publications
Asoodeh, M. Khasenye D., 2009, "Power Management of a PV Solar-Savonius Wind Hybrid Powered Illumination System Using the Arduino Microcontroller" Available in the Proceedings of 2009 Annual ATMAE conference, Louisville, KY.
A comparison of resistance exercise perceived exertion and muscle activation at varied submaximal durations, loads, and muscle actions" (the "Work"). Publication date: Apr 1, 2017.publication description: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Conditioning Research: May 2017 - Volume 31 - Issue 5 - p 1387–1394 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001290
Various Railroad Related Research Publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3622-7664
Certification
Engineer-In-Training (EIT) on path to licensure as a Professional Engineer
Certificate in Advanced Railroad Signals
Certificate in Basic Gas Turbine Technology
Project Portfolio
Positive Train Control Wayside and Locomotive deployment across 22 eastern States
Project Manager or Coauthor for multiple Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Commercial Projects
Project Manager for the European Union funded PROVEN best practices in Rural Electrification study Project in East Africa
Project Assistant for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) funded Photovoltaic Market Transformation Initiative (PVMTI) in East Africa
Computing Skills
MS office suite of software
Simio Simulation Software Tool
AMQP, MQTT
Minitab, Matlab, R
ROS, C++, Linux, Python,Open CV, PyTorch
Embedded Systems and Micro-Controllers
Knowledge of ladder logic, Human Machine Interaction (HMI) and programmable logic controllers (P.L.Cs) especially Allen Bradley
Affiliations
Member of American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA). Member Society of Information Display (SID). Member the Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering (ATMAE). Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Member of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE).Presenter at the 2009 Annual ATMAE conference, Louisville, KY.