About

Melissa Bilal is a sociocultural anthropologist and historian specializing in music and performance studies, gender and sexuality studies, and memory studies. She is the Promise Professor in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture and serves as the Director of the Armenian Music Program at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Her ethnographic research explores the role of music in the transmission of Armenian memory in Turkey, while her archival research focuses on the musical and intellectual history of Armenians in the late Ottoman Empire and early republican Turkey. She is working on a biography of pianist and composer Koharik Gazarossian (1907-1967). Her most recent book manuscript is the co-authored volume Feminism in Armenian: An Interpretive Anthology, which is forthcoming in 2025 and unearths the lives and works of twelve Armenian feminist writer-activists in the Ottoman and post-Ottoman contexts.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Computer science
• Chemical engineering
• Risk analysis (engineering)
• Polymer chemistry

Selected publications

• Surface characterization data for tethered polyacrylic acid layers synthesized on polysulfone surfaces

  Data in Brief · 2019-03-06 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  The data presented are supplementary to an article [Kim et al., 2019] on synthesis and surface characterization of tethered polyacrylic acid (PAA) layers on polysulfone (PSf) film/membrane surfaces via atmospheric pressure plasma-induced graft polymerization (APPIGP). Data on surface characterization of the synthesized tethered PAA layers includes: AFM topographic surface images and height distributions of surface features, dry layer thickness, chain rupture length distributions determined via AFM based force spectroscopy (AFM-FS), in addition to measurements of water contact angles. Fouling propensity data for ultrafiltration of alginic acid as a model foulant are also provided for native and PAA grafted PSf ultrafiltration (UF) membranes.

  PublisherDOI

• Toxicity Models: Bayesian Network Resource for Meta‐Analysis: Cellular Toxicity of Quantum Dots (Small 34/2019)

  Small · 2019-08-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In article number 1900510, Yoram Cohen and co-workers develop a Bayesian networks (BNs) tool to explore the cellular toxicity of cadmium-containing quantum dots (QDs) utilizing data from 515 publications from research groups across different continents. The impact of various QD properties on cellular toxicity is elucidated along with mapping of data patterns in terms of association rules.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Bayesian Network Resource for Meta‐Analysis: Cellular Toxicity of Quantum Dots

  Small · 2019-06-17 · 51 citations

  review1st author

  Abstract A web‐based resource for meta‐analysis of nanomaterials toxicity is developed whereby the utility of Bayesian networks (BNs) is illustrated for exploring the cellular toxicity of Cd‐containing quantum dots (QDs). BN models are developed based on a dataset compiled from 517 publications comprising 3028 cell viability data samples and 837 IC 50 values. BN QD toxicity (BN‐QDTox) models are developed using both continuous (i.e., numerical) and categorical attributes. Using these models, the most relevant attributes identified for correlating IC 50 are: QD diameter, exposure time, surface ligand, shell, assay type, surface modification, and surface charge, with the addition of QD concentration for the cell viability analysis. Data exploration via BN models further enables identification of possible association rules for QDs cellular toxicity. The BN models as web‐based applications can be used for rapid intelligent query of the available body of evidence for a given nanomaterial and can be readily updated as the body of knowledge expands.

  PublisherDOI

• Polysulfone surface nano-structured with tethered polyacrylic acid

  Applied Surface Science · 2018-11-15 · 13 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Flight Guardian: Autonomous Flight Safety Improvement by Monitoring Aircraft Cockpit Instruments

  Journal of Aerospace Information Systems · 2018-01-24 · 26 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  During in-flight emergencies, a pilot’s workload increases significantly, and it is often during this period of increased stress that human errors occur that consequently diminish the flight safety. Research studies indicate that many plane crashes can be attributed to ineffective cockpit instrument monitoring by the pilot. This paper entails the development of Flight Guardian¶ system being first of its kind that aims to provide efficient flight-deck awareness to improve flight safety while assisting the pilot in abnormal situations. The system is intended to be used in older aircraft that cannot easily or cost effectively be modified with modern digital avionic systems. One of the important features of the Flight Guardian system is being not physically connected to the aircraft, which avoids any impact on airworthiness or the need for recertification. For the first time, a composite of techniques including video analysis, knowledge representation, and machine belief representations are combined to build a novel flight-deck warning system. The prototype system is tested in both simulation-based laboratory and real flight environments under the guidance of expert pilots. The overall system performance is evaluated using statistical analysis of experimental results that proved the robustness of the proposed methodology in terms of automated warning generation in hazardous situations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Tethered hydrophilic polymers layers on a polyamide surface

  Journal of Applied Polymer Science · 2018-08-13 · 12 citations

  article

  ABSTRACT Modification of the hydrophilicity of a polyamide surface with tethered poly(acrylic acid), poly(vinylsulfonic acid), or poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) was accomplished by atmospheric pressure plasma surface activation, followed by free radical graft polymerization with vinyl monomers. Surface activation was more effective with He relative to H 2 plasma leading to thicker grafted polymer layers of higher surface density. The thickness and surface roughness of the tethered layers were up to ~9.7 nm and ~3.6 nm, respectively. Upon surface modification, the free energy of hydration decreased (25–51%) and the polar component of the surface energy increased (by a factor of 3.0–6.5); the above indicating increased hydrophilicity of the modified surface which also correlated with the tethered polymer layer thickness and surface roughness. The present study suggests that surface hydrophilicity tuning is feasible through the combination of surface chemistry, plasma surface treatment, and graft polymerization conditions. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135 , 46843.

  PublisherDOI

• Comment on “Assessing the Risk of Engineered Nanomaterials in the Environment: Development and Application of the nanoFate Model”

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2018-04-16 · 5 citations

  erratum

  ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVCorrespondence/Rebut...Correspondence/RebuttalNEXTORIGINAL ARTICLEThis notice is a correctionComment on "Assessing the Risk of Engineered Nanomaterials in the Environment: Development and Application of the nanoFate Model"Yoram Cohen*Yoram CohenChemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science;, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, United States*Phone: (310) 825-8766; e-mail: [email protected]More by Yoram Cohenhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-0756-4699, Muhammad BilalMuhammad BilalInstitute of the Environment and Sustainability;, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, United StatesMore by Muhammad Bilal, and Haoyang LiuHaoyang LiuChemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science;, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, United StatesMore by Haoyang LiuCite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2018, 52, 9, 5509–5510Publication Date (Web):April 16, 2018Publication History Published online16 April 2018Published inissue 1 May 2018https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b00486https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b00486correctionACS PublicationsCopyright © 2018 American Chemical Society. This publication is available under these Terms of Use. Request reuse permissions This publication is free to access through this site. Learn MoreArticle Views1462Altmetric-Citations2LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail PDF (252 KB) Get e-AlertscloseSUBJECTS:Dissolution,Environmental modeling,Nanomaterials,Particle size,Soils Get e-Alerts

  PublisherDOI

• Assessment of information availability for environmental impact assessment of engineered nanomaterials

  Journal of Nanoparticle Research · 2018-12-01 · 3 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Bayesian network as a support tool for rapid query of the environmental multimedia distribution of nanomaterials

  Nanoscale · 2017-01-01 · 11 citations

  article1st author

  An approach is presented describing the development of a Bayesian network (BN) based tool for rapid assessment of the distribution of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). The methodology was demonstrated via the construction of a BN model for estimating the exposure concentrations of nanomaterials (BN-nanoExpo) based on simulation data derived from a mechanistic multimedia compartmental fate and transport model. The results of simulations of the distribution of six ENMs in eight different regions were generated for a broad range of geographical and meteorological parameters as well as ENM release rates to the air, water and soil major compartments. Test cases with the constructed BN-nanoExpo demonstrated the capability of the BN based model to portray a wide range of simulation results that can be obtained with the mechanistic fate and transport model. Moreover, BN-nanoExpo is shown to be a suitable tool for estimating both ENM concentrations and release rates given partial information, while also enabling assessment of the impact of uncertainties in input data on the predicted outcomes. The results of the current study suggest that there is merit in exploring the utility of the approach to more complex models, which would provide decision makers with powerful tools for rapid assessment of the behavior of nanomaterials in the environment.

  PublisherDOI

• Real-time direct detection of silica scaling on RO membranes

  Journal of Membrane Science · 2017-01-17 · 60 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Yoram Cohen

  21 shared

• Eunkeu Oh

  8 shared

• Shivani Sharma

  California NanoSystems Institute

  8 shared

• Soo-Min Kim

  Ewha Womans University

  6 shared

• Kari J. Moses

  University of California, Los Angeles

  5 shared

• Michelle Romero-Franco

  University of California, Los Angeles

  5 shared

• Hilary A. Godwin

  University of California, Los Angeles

  5 shared

• Igor L. Medintz

  United States Naval Research Laboratory

  4 shared

Labs

• Armenian Music ProgramPI

Education

• Entrepreneurship in Medicine, Science and Technology

  UCLA Anderson School of Management

  2015

• PhD, Computer Science

  University of Bradford

  2011

• MSc, Computer Science

  Birmingham City University

  2007

• MSc, Computer Science

  COMSATS Institute of Information Technology - Wah Campus

  2005