About Me
I’m a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research, advised by Dr. Qadeer Ahmed. My research uses reinforcement learning and physics-informed deep learning to build controllers for hybrid-electric powertrains that reduce fuel consumption while extending the life of the battery, electric machine, and aftertreatment system.
My PhD work is in collaboration with Cummins Inc., where I interned in the Powertrain and Electrification Controls (PTEC) group during summer 2026.
I’m graduating in December 2026 and looking for full-time roles in AI/ML engineering, controls, or applied research starting early 2027.
Research Interests
- Deep reinforcement learning for energy and aging management
- Physics-informed deep learning for system identification and prognostics
- Multi-objective optimization for electrified powertrains
News
- Our paper Ranking-Augmented On-Policy Optimization with Adaptive Advantage-Normalization for Constrained Control was accepted at the 2026 IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC) (July 2026).
- I am a Graduate Fellow in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at Ohio State for Autumn 2026.
- I completed my Powertrain and Electrification Controls (PTEC) internship at Cummins in August 2026 and am back at the Center for Automotive Research as a Graduate Research Associate.
- I am now a peer reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, IEEE ITEC, and the 23rd IFAC World Congress.
- I interned at Cummins over summer 2026 in the Powertrain and Electrification Controls (PTEC) group, working on adaptive cruise control modeling and simulation for heavy-duty electric vehicles.
- Our paper Physics-Aware Deep Reinforcement Learning for Energy and Aging Management was accepted at IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification (May 2026).
- Our paper Learning Battery Aging Dynamics using Physics-Informed Transformer was accepted at IEEE TTE (January 2026).
- I’m graduating in December 2026 and starting to look for full-time roles in AI/ML, controls, or applied research for early 2027.
Older News
- Submitted Physics-Aware Deep RL journal paper for review (February 2026).
- Submitted Physics-Informed Transformer journal paper to IEEE TTE (December 2025).
- Presented work on aging model robustness for heavy-duty EVs at IEEE ITEC 2025 in Anaheim, CA (June 2025).
- Presented work on powertrain aging model selection at SAE WCX 2025 in Detroit, MI (April 2025).
- Submitted papers to IEEE ITEC 2025 (December 2024) and SAE WCX 2025 (September 2024).
Selected Publications
Physics-Aware Deep Reinforcement Learning for Energy and Aging Management in Electrified Powertrains
M.R. Rownak, W. Jaleel, A. Hanif, M.Q. Fahim, D.D. Le, H. Anwar, M. Nelson, & Q. Ahmed
IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, 2026 (accepted)
Learning Battery Aging Dynamics Using Physics-Informed Transformer
M.R. Rownak, A. Hanif, M.Q. Fahim, D.D. Le, H. Anwar, W. Jaleel, M. Nelson, & Q. Ahmed
IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 3792–3804, 2026. doi:10.1109/TTE.2026.3658446
Robustness and Sensitivity of Aging Models for Batteries and Electric Machines in Heavy-Duty Electrified Powertrains
M.R. Rownak, A. Hanif, Q. Ahmed, M.Q. Fahim, H. Anwar, H. Li, D.D. Le, & M. Nelson
IEEE ITEC 2025, Anaheim, CA.
Powertrain Components Aging Model Selection for Energy Efficient Vehicles: Selection Strategy and Challenges
M.R. Rownak, A. Hanif, Q. Ahmed, M.Q. Fahim, H. Anwar, H. Li, D. Le, & M. Nelson
SAE WCX 2025, Detroit, MI.
Selected Projects
Aging-Aware Powertrain Control with Reinforcement Learning. Physics-aware RL framework for hybrid-electric powertrains that jointly optimizes fuel economy and component aging on heavy-duty drive cycles.
Physics-Informed Transformer for Battery Degradation. Transformer-based model for battery capacity-fade prediction trained across multi-cell cycling datasets.
Aging Model Development for Electrified Powertrains. Physics-based aging models for batteries, electric machines, and aftertreatment systems, integrated into a forward-looking powertrain simulator.
Teaching
TA for ME 3501: Introduction to Engineering Thermodynamics at Ohio State (spring 2026). Previously a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at BAUST in Bangladesh (2019–2020).
Beyond Research
Outside of research, I enjoy traveling, long walks, and photography.
Visitors
A small dot for every visitor.