When Nevrus Kaja received his acceptance letter to University of Michigan-Dearborn, he vowed to make the most of his educational experience.

Calling his time on campus “an expansion of opportunities,” the Albanian-born Nevrus has more than fulfilled his self-pledge. 

From his undergraduate work with proposing a standard architecture for the electronic nose to his graduate work creating a new security solution for Cloud Computing, the Hardware Advanced Encryption Standard, Nevrus—as a UM-Dearborn student—has presented his research around the world.

“I have a passion for engineering, research and teaching, with an emphasis on tackling world-wide problems to come up with simple solutions that continuously contribute toward the prosperous progress of humanity,” Nevrus.

And Nevrus keeps his research plans open-sourced. The reason: He envisions others continuing to build off his initial work to develop new applications.

Wanting to spark others’ interests in learning and research is what’s leading Nevrus to his next goal—to teach at a research-intensive university.

“The moment that I take a chalk and start explaining, the level of my exaltation grows exponentially. I also live and breathe for those days where the results of an experiment are a proof of my research hypothesis,” he said. “Both of my passions, teaching and research, are melted at one profession and that is my ultimate goal.”

Nevrus said his time on campus was life changing. He was particularly encouraged and motivated by Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Adnan Shaout. 

“His impact not only shaped my professional life but also put a mission to my vision to help the humanity go forward and create an ideology that by technology we can have a more humane and colorful world.”