OSU mechanical engineering student awarded Central Oklahoma ASHRAE scholarship
Friday, December 19, 2025
Dr. Jeffrey Spitler, Rasheed Shittu and Dr. Christian Bach
Rasheed Shittu, a second-year Ph.D. student in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Oklahoma State University, has been selected to receive the Central Oklahoma ASHRAE Scholarship through the Oklahoma City Community Foundation for the 2025–26 academic year.
Shittu currently serves as treasurer of OSU’s ASHRAE student chapter and conducts research under the mentorship of Dr. Christian Bach, professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and is actively involved with the Center for Integrated Building Systems through multiple projects.
His work spans multiple advanced thermal systems projects, where he has demonstrated strong leadership, research and technical skills, service activities and his commitment to advancing HVAC and building energy systems research through hands-on experimentation, modeling and data analysis.
Among his accomplishments, Shittu led the design and component selection for a heat pump project integrating thermal energy storage to improve system performance. He also debugged and successfully operated a hot-gas bypass chiller in the lab, completing both hardware work and LabVIEW programming. In addition, Shittu developed a transient model of the chiller in Dymola and created a model predictive controller in MATLAB using a functional mock-up unit (FMU). He has presented his research findings to diverse audiences in a clear and engaging manner.
Shittu has also worked for Dr. Bach as a graduate teaching research assistant for thermal fluids design, where he has supported students and managed the demanding task of grading complex project assignments.
“Rasheed has been an excellent addition to my research group,” Dr. Bach said. “I have also enjoyed having his support as a teaching assistant.”
In the coming years, Shittu will transition from modeling predictive controls for chillers to developing an advanced expansion device controller. The project is expected to help an Oklahoma-based company enhance its competitiveness, with efforts underway to move the work under contract.
“I very much enjoy working with Rasheed,” Dr. Bach said. “He is one of the few students balancing his studies with supporting a family, and he continues to impress me with both his productivity and his ability to manage challenges as they arise.”