News Story
Congratulations, Graduates!

CEEE's Zhengda Yao and Cheng-Yi Lee walked near the front of the engineering graduates entering Commencement 2025. Photo credit: Riley N. Sims/University of Maryland
Congratulations to CEEE's newest Ph.D.s, Zhengda Yao and Cheng-Yi Lee. They were officially hooded at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering Commencement Ceremony on May 23.
Lee defended his dissertation, "Development of a Near-Isothermal Compression Process Utilizing Liquid Piston Technology for Transcritical CO2 Cycle" in August 2024. Earlier this spring, Yao defended his dissertation, “Experimental and Computational Analysis of an Extreme Environment Heat Exchanger Co-Designed for Manufacturability and Thermal-Hydraulic Performance.”

Zhengda Yao, with his advisor, Michael Ohadi, and Cheng-Yi Lee, with his advisor, Yunho Hwang
Congratulations also to two CEEE staff members on their UMD graduations. Faculty assistant Shwe Htet Htet Aung completed her Master of Engineering in December and was recognized at the Clark School's May ceremony, and program manager Leanne Poteet earned a Graduate Certificate of Professional Studies in Multimedia Journalism.
Published May 30, 2025