2025 Burka Award

Presented to: Dr. Sharbel Kozhaya, Joe Saroufim, and Dr. Zaher (Zak) M. Kassas

Citation: For their paper, "Unveiling Starlink for PNT," published in the Spring 2025 issue of NAVIGATION, Journal of the Institute of Navigation

2025 Burka Award, Sharbel KozhayaDr. Sharbel Kozhaya is a Senior Research Associate at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at The Ohio State University and a member of the ASPIN Laboratory. He is the recipient of the IEEE/ION PLANS Best-In-Track paper (2025) and best student paper (2023) awards. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University.

 

2025 Burka - Joe SaroufimJoe Saroufim is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Ohio State University and a member of the ASPIN Laboratory. He is a recipient of the IEEE/ION PLANS Bestin- Track Paper awards. His current research interests include low Earth orbit satellites, situational awareness, autonomous vehicles, and sensor fusion. He received a BE in Mechanical Engineering from the Lebanese American University.

 

2025 Burka Award - Dr. Zak KassasDr. Zaher (Zak) M. Kassas is the TRC Endowed Chair of Intelligent Transportation Systems and a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at The Ohio State University, where he is also Director of the U.S. Department of Transportation Center for Automated Vehicles Research with Multimodal AssurEd Navigation (CARMEN). His awards include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from President Biden; NSF CAREER Award; ONR Young Investigator Program Award; AFOSR Young Investigator Award; IEEE Richard Kershner, Harry Rowe Mimno, Walter Fried, and Frederick Ellersick Awards; and ION Burka and Thurlow Awards. He is an IEEE and an ION Fellow. He received a PhD in ECE from The University of Texas at Austin.