Team

Assistant Professor, Singapore Institute of Technology
Adjunct Faculty, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Principal Investigator, A-SMART Lab

AI & Scientific Machine Learning • Optimization & Decision Intelligence • CCUS & Low-Carbon Infrastructure • Subsurface & Geoenergy Systems

Research Fellow
Singapore Institute of Technology
AI-assisted integrated verification and tracing for rebar delivery
Period: 2026–Present

Research Engineer
Singapore Institute of Technology
AI-assisted integrated verification and tracing for rebar delivery
Period: 2026–Present

M.S. Student
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
CO₂ transportation and infrastructure design
Co-supervised with: Prof. Hamid Rahnema
Period: 2026–Present
Mentoring location: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, USA

Final Year Project Student
Singapore Institute of Technology
Effects of Complementary Plant Proteins to Enhance the Nutritional and Techno-Functional Properties of Mushroom-Based Foods: A Systematic Literature Review
Co-supervised with: Prof. Nenad Naumovski and Prof. Du Juan
Period: 2026

Final Year Project Student
Singapore Institute of Technology
Enhancing Functional Properties of Mushroom Proteins through Water Extraction and Heating-Based Methods
Co-supervised with: Prof. Du Juan
Period: 2026

Final Year Project Student
Singapore Institute of Technology
From Bean to Brew: How Much CO₂ Does It Take to Drink a Cup of Coffee? Carbon Footprint Analysis and Emission Reduction Strategies for Coffee Supplied to Singapore
Period: 2026

Bachelor Thesis Student, Chemical Engineering
Singapore Institute of Technology
Digital Transformation of ESHQ Frameworks: A Multi-Process Automation Study

Bachelor Thesis Student, Chemical Engineering
Singapore Institute of Technology
Process Design, Optimisation & Digitalisation: Clean-In-Place (CIP) Optimisation Project

Bachelor Thesis Student, Chemical Engineering
Singapore Institute of Technology
Deployment of Run-to-Run for Critical Dimensions Tuning

Bachelor Thesis Student, Chemical Engineering
Singapore Institute of Technology
Experimental Evaluation and Optimization of Microparticle Purification Processes in Production

The following researchers and students were supervised or mentored by Dr. Ma at previous institutions before the establishment of A-SMART Lab.

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Machine-learning-based CO₂ storage and transport design and modeling
Role: Primary Mentor
Co-supervised with: Dr. Bailian Chen
Period: 2024–2025
Mentoring location: Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Machine-learning-based multi-objective optimization for geological CO₂ storage
Role: Co-Mentor
Co-supervised with: Dr. Bailian Chen
Period: 2024–2025
Mentoring location: Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Large-scale CO₂ transportation network design and modeling
Role: Co-Mentor
Co-supervised with: Dr. Bailian Chen
Period: 2023–2025
Mentoring location: Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA

M.Sc. Student in Petroleum Engineering
Application of data-driven techniques to SAGD and solvent-aided recovery processes
Role: Co-Mentor
Period: 2018–2019
Mentoring location: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

M.Sc. Student in Petroleum Engineering
Multi-objective optimization workflow for steam-alternating-solvent heavy-oil recovery process design
Role: Co-Mentor
Period: 2018–2019
Mentoring location: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

M.Sc. Student in Petroleum Engineering
Fast screening of heterogeneous shale-barrier configurations and their impacts on SAGD production behavior
Role: Co-Mentor
Period: 2018–2019
Mentoring location: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

M.Eng. Student in Petroleum Engineering
Data-driven modeling for SAGD production analysis
Role: Co-Mentor
Period: 2013–2015
Mentoring location: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Summer Graduate Researcher, Colorado School of Mines
Multimodal CO₂ transportation modeling tool development
Role: Primary Mentor
Period: 2024–2025
Mentoring location: Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA

Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship Summer Researcher, Virginia State University
Underground hydrogen storage modeling under geological heterogeneity
Role: Primary Mentor
Period: 2023
Mentoring location: Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA

Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship Summer Researcher, University of Texas at Austin
Pore-scale CO₂ storage modeling
Role: Co-Mentor
Period: 2023
Mentoring location: Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA
Winner, 2023 Los Alamos National Laboratory Student Symposium

A-SMART Lab welcomes motivated researchers and students interested in AI-enabled engineering, scientific machine learning, optimization, uncertainty quantification, CCUS, geoenergy, and sustainable infrastructure systems.

Opportunities may include research staff positions, graduate research, final-year projects, bachelor thesis projects, internships, and visiting research collaborations.