Meet the college’s newest faculty cohort
Get to know the researchers, scholars and thought leaders who have joined the College of Engineering’s world-class faculty for the 2022-23 academic year. With 44 new faculty, this is the college’s largest cohort in more than a decade.
Biomedical Engineering
Prior role: Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University
Research interest: The study of how mechanical forces regulate cellular and tissue homeostasis.
Courses taught this academic year: Quantitative Principles of Cellular and Molecular Systems; Introduction to BME
Favorite hobby: Running
Interesting fact: I enjoy gardening and I am looking forward to restarting my raspberry patch in Columbus.
Christopher Fang-Yen, Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Associate Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Research interest: My lab investigates how neural circuits create behavior, using the roundworm C. elegans as a model.
Courses taught this academic year: BME 4110 Bioimaging
Favorite hobby: Playing the violin
Interesting fact: I enjoy hiking and foraging for edible plants and mushrooms.
Sarah McBride-Gagyi, Assistant Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: Assistant Professor at Saint Louis University, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Research interest: Bone regeneration.
Favorite hobby: Going to music festivals with my spouse, children, and friends.
Interesting fact: Expert 4+ leaf clover finder—found over 80 in one afternoon last summer.
Juliet Varghese, Research Assistant Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: Research Scientist, The Ohio State University
Research interest: Cardiac MRI
Favorite hobby: Reading
Interesting fact: First in the family to receive a PhD.
Lufang Zhou, Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Associate Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Research interest: Develop novel ontogenetic-based approach to target mitochondria and treat heart diseases and cancers.
Favorite hobby: Cooking and playing sports (video) games.
Interesting fact: I love developing novel technologies/tools.
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Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Rebecca Harmon, Professional Practice Assistant Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: PhD candidate, Northwestern University and University of Amsterdam
Research interest: Engineering education and student leadership.
Courses taught this academic year: CBE 2420 Transport Phenomena I
Favorite hobby: Gardening.
Interesting fact: I spent 6 months living in Amsterdam for my joint PhD.
Mandar Kathe, Professional Practice Assistant Professor (he/him/his; they/them/theirs)
Prior role: Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, Tuskegee University
Research interest: Engineering education, diversity and inclusion-based focus using artificial intelligence techniques.
Courses taught this academic year: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Process and Product Design Principles I
Favorite hobby: I tend to swing between hobbies, extroversion is a general theme: karaoke, poetry, chess, bicycle trails.
Interesting fact: I am driven by the hope for a better tomorrow on a personal, local and a global scale.
Joshua Sangoro, Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Associate Professor and Associate Department Head, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Research interest: Developing new materials for energy and sustainability applications.
Courses taught this academic year: Courses on transport processes and soft matter.
Favorite hobby: Choral music.
Interesting fact: I am a first-generation college graduate and I have a passion for effective strategies to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in engineering.
Davita Watkins, Assistant Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: Associate Professor, University of Mississippi
Research interest: The Watkins Research Group (WRG) specializes in functional materials templated by synthetic organic molecules. The materials produced in this laboratory are designed to be used in various applications, ranging from therapeutics to electronic devices.
Courses taught this academic year: Organic chemistry
Favorite hobby: Hiking
Interesting fact: Youngest of five
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Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering
Patrick Bassal, Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Graduate Student Researcher at University of California, Davis
Research interest: Geotechnical computational modeling, geostatistics, and geotechnical earthquake engineering
Favorite hobby: Board games, collecting records, tennis and traveling
Interesting fact: I often play Raffi tunes and folk rock on guitar for my daughter!
Min Liew, Assistant Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: PhD student, Penn State
Research interest: Permafrost geotechnics
Favorite hobby: Yoga and gardening
Interesting fact: I grew up in the tropics, live in temperate regions and work on polar topics.
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Computer Science and Engineering
Hanqi Guo, Associate Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Computer Scientist at the Mathematics and Computer Science Division in Argonne National Laboratory
Research interest: Visualization, analysis, and machine learning for large-scale scientific data
Courses taught this academic year: CSE5559 (Intermediate Studies in Computer Graphics), CSE5542 (Real-Time Rendering)
Favorite hobby: Woodworking
Interesting fact: I never give a borderline rating in reviewing papers.
Zeyu Guo, Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Research Fellow at University of Texas at Austin
Research interest: Pseudorandomness, coding theory, algebraic complexity theory
Favorite hobby: Watching movies
Interesting fact: I wished to become a manga artist when I was a kid.
Jaimie Kelley, Professional Practice Assistant Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Wittenberg University
Research interest: I study online, interactive systems that encourage interest in STEM.
Courses taught this academic year: Operating Systems
Favorite hobby: I love games, sewing, and robots.
Interesting fact: I recently earned the Paragon Color award for promoting inclusion of non-fighters in Amtgard, a fantasy boffer LARP.
Martin Kong, Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma School of Computer Science
Research interest: Programming and optimization environments for high-performance and quantum computing
Courses taught this academic year: CS 5441 - Introduction to Parallel Computing
Favorite hobby: Love football soccer, but my playing days are likely over, so I just watch games now. I've been a Real Madrid fan since I was 10.
Interesting fact: I'm very into baseball. I'm a Yankee fan, and I have a growing collection of bobbleheads.
Nickalaus Painter, Professional Practice Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Senior Lecturer, Ohio State
Research interest: I am interested in effective pedagogy, mathematical biology, dynamical systems, and mathematical modelling.
Courses taught this academic year: Foundations 1 and Foundations 2
Favorite hobby: Tabletop board gaming
Interesting fact: At one point in time I was the top-rated teacher at Ohio State on RateMyProfessor!
John Paparrizos, Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Postdoc at University of Chicago
Research interest: Algorithms and systems for data science
Courses taught this academic year: Topics in data science: methods and systems
Favorite hobby: Drone flying
Interesting fact: I've watched all episodes of "Friends" 10+ times.
Hari Subramoni, Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Research Scientist
Research interest: High-performance computing, high-performance distributed deep learning
Courses taught this academic year: CSE 5441, CSE 5449
Donald Williamson, Associate Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Assistant Professor at Indiana University
Research interest: Develop machine-learning algorithms that analyze, extract meaningful information, and that make predictions from audio, speech and signal data.
Courses taught this academic year: CSE 5539 - 0010 Intermediate Studies in Artificial Intelligence
Favorite hobby: Spending time with family and watching sports
Interesting fact: I've lived in six states.
Carter Yagemann, Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Graduate Research Assistant, Georgia Institute of Technology
Research interest: Systems and software security, spanning vulnerability discovery via combined program analysis and machine learning, root cause analysis and exploit prevention, and simulation of attacks targeting financial markets.
Courses taught this academic year: CSE 5472: Information Security Projects
Favorite hobby: Pinball
Interesting fact: Prior to going into academia, I worked for JPMorgan Chase as an ethical hacker breaking ATMs and payment processing systems.
Mi Zhang, Associate Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Associate Professor at Michigan State University
Research interest: The area of Edge AI, which aims to empower billions of everyday devices with AI. To achieve this goal, I focus on its core challenges related to efficiency, automation, connectivity, scalability, interactivity, and inclusiveness as well as its important applications that have a significant societal impact such as healthcare.
Courses taught this academic year: CSE 5469: Artificial Intelligence of Things
Favorite hobby: Tennis, golf, soccer
Interesting fact: My first name is the abbreviation of the state of Michigan.
Ting Zhu, Associate Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Associate Professor, University of Maryland Baltimore County Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department
Research interest: Internet of Things, wireless networks, big data, cybersecurity and AI
Courses taught this academic year: Computer networking and wireless systems
Favorite hobby: Swimming, tennis and gardening
Interesting fact: If I could eat one type of cuisine for the rest of my life, it would be noodles.
Zhihui Zhu, Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Denver
Research interest: Algorithmic and theoretical aspects of machine learning and data science, with a focus on developing efficient methods for extracting useful information from large-scale and high-dimensional data, proving their correctness, and applying them to solving real-world problems.
Courses taught this academic year: CSE 5523 Machine Learning
Favorite hobby: Outdoor activities, watching sports
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Electrical and Computer Engineering
Shanker Balasubramaniam, Professor and Department Chair (he/him/his)
Prior role: University Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University
Research interest: Computational science as applied to electromagnetic, acoustics, active matter, quantum dots, etc.
Favorite hobby: Being physically active (running, biking, basketball, hiking)
Interesting fact: Love deep dives into topics
Zak Kassas, Professor (he/him/his)
Prior Role: Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Irvine
Research interest: Autonomous vehicle navigation resiliency, accuracy, and security. Situational awareness in dynamic stochastic environments.
Courses taught this academic year: ECE 8201: Satellite-Based and Terrestrial Radio Navigation
Favorite hobby: Traveling, running, chess
Interesting fact: I’m an embodiment of the American Dream: life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. As an immigrant, I have the utmost appreciation for what our great nation has to offer. With hard work and passion, you can achieve success and prosperity and live the American Dream.
Sandra Soto-Cabán, Professional Practice Associate Professor – Newark (she/her/hers)
Prior role: Associate Professor of Engineering and Chair of Physics and Engineering, Muskingum University
Research interest: Electromagnetic field calculations and simulations, nanotechnology and nanoelectronics, and engineering education
Courses taught this academic year: ENGR 1181
Favorite hobby: I collect miniature Wonder Woman figurines.
Interesting fact: Proud Puerto Rican. I have 3 adult children (twin sons and a daughter), 4 cats, and a dog.
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Engineering Education
Benjamin Ahn, Associate Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Assistant Professor at Iowa State University
Research interest: Engineering workforce development; mentoring; teaching and learning mechanisms
Courses taught this academic year: ENGREDU 6100: Foundations and the Field of Engineering Education
Interesting fact: Some of my favorite sports are rugby and cricket.
Monique Ross, Associate Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: Associate Professor at Florida International University
Research interest: Race, gender, and computing
Courses taught this academic year: GTA Practicum
Favorite hobby: Reading
Interesting fact: This is my second career; started as an engineer.
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Integrated Systems Engineering
Sandy Furterer, Professional Practice Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: Associate Professor at University of Dayton
Research interest: Lean Six Sigma, change management, systems engineering, leadership and diversity
Courses taught this academic year: Engineering Econ, Facility Layout and Material Handling
Favorite hobby: Writing and hanging out with my family
Interesting fact: One of seven graduates in our family from the Ohio State ISE department.
Xian Yu, Assistant Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: PhD candidate at the University of Michigan
Research interest: Sequential decision-making and optimization under uncertainty
Favorite hobby: Playing badminton, table tennis, and board games
Interesting fact: A lazy vlogger in academia
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Knowlton School – Architecture
Phu Hoang, Associate Professor and Section Head (he/him/his)
Prior role: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University
Research interest: Hybridizing architecture and environment for low energy design
Courses taught this academic year: Design studio
Interesting fact: I have lived in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, London, Rome, and Tokyo.
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Knowlton School – City and Regional Planning
Harley Etienne, Associate Professor
Prior role: Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.
Research interest: The confluence of institutions, patterns of neighborhood change, and social justice
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Materials Science and Engineering
Nuria Bagues Salguero, Professional Practice Assistant Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: Research Associate, Ohio State's Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis
Research interest: Correlation of physical properties and structure of defects in epitaxial films of advanced functional oxides by means of electron transmission microscopy.
Courses taught this academic year: MATSCEN 6740 - Practical Scanning Electron Microscopy Laboratory, MATSCEN 6741 - Practical Transmission Electron Microscopy Lab.
Favorite hobby: Painting
Interesting fact: I love observing bioluminescent organisms during a dark spring night. So far, I have seen fireflies here in Ohio and in Italy, and plankton in the Catalan coast.
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Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Qadeer Ahmed, Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Research Associate Professor at Ohio State
Research interest: Automotive systems
Courses taught this academic year: Fault Diagnosis
Favorite hobby: Camping
Matilde D'Arpino, Research Assistant Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: Research Scientist at Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research.
Research interest: My field of expertise is in power conversion and energy storage modeling, control, and diagnostic for automotive, aerospace and grid-connected applications and my background includes a mix of electrical, mechanical and aerospace areas.
Favorite hobby: Hiking, dancing, cooking.
Interesting fact: I am Italian and I love talking about food!
Debdipta Goswami, Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Princeton University.
Research interest: Control, optimization, robotics, and learning for dynamical systems
Courses taught this academic year: AEROENG 8820 (Robust Multivariable Control with Applications)
Favorite hobby: Traveling, piano, ham radio, gliding
Interesting fact: I have seen the midnight sun in Norway, spent a night on the pavements of Brussels after getting robbed, and watched northern lights dancing on the Norwegian coast from 39,000 feet.
Michael Handschuh, Research Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Research Scientist in Ohio State's Gear and Power Transmission Research Laboratory
Research interest: Fundamental power transmission research focusing on tribology, noise and vibration, and manufacturing errors
Favorite hobby: Soccer, muscle cars, drag racing
Interesting fact: Came to Ohio State as an undergrad in 2007, loved it, and haven't left!
Isaac Hong, Research Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Research Scientist at Ohio State
Research interest: Durability, efficiency and NVH properties of gears and powertrain machine elements
Favorite hobby: Rock climbing
Interesting fact: I commute on a motorcycle.
Praneeth Kandlakunta, Research Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Research Associate at Ohio State
Research interest: Nuclear and radiation physics applications, including radiation detection, nuclear instrumentation and radiation sensor development, in healthcare, nuclear energy and nonproliferation.
Favorite hobby: My favorite is going for long scenic drives; others are gardening, hiking, watching TV and movies.
Interesting fact: I love nature. I like visiting nature reserves, mountains, lakes, and I would love to explore all the beautiful countryside.
Matt McCrink, Research Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Research Scientist at Ohio State
Research interest: Flight test of autonomy for aerospace vehicles
Courses taught this academic year: Flight test
Favorite hobby: Flying!
Calvin Stewart, Associate Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Provost Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor, The University of Texas at El Paso
Research interest: The advanced manufacturing, testing & characterization, and theoretical mechanics of materials subject to extremes.
Courses taught this academic year: Statics
Favorite hobby: Cooking on the grill/BBQ/smoker and reading
Interesting fact: According to Kindle, I have been reading for 182 weeks in a row (3.5 years!) and average 50 books per year.
Dan Wisniewski, Professional Practice Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Priority Designs
Research interest: Product design and visual communication
Courses taught this academic year: ME 2900, ME 4901, ME 5680
Favorite hobby: Woodworking, soccer and hanging out with my family
Interesting fact: In my spare time I do graphic design and make posters and T-shirts.
Sarah Wolff, Assistant Professor (she/her/hers)
Prior role: Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University
Research interest: I work on operando imaging of metal additive manufacturing for the design of new alloys and processes.
Courses taught this academic year: MAE 2020 Mechanics of Materials
Favorite hobby: Tennis, cooking
Interesting fact: I'm originally from the Midwest and am excited to be back.
Shang Zhai, Assistant Professor (he/him/his)
Prior role: Postdoc at Stanford University
Research interest: Materials and systems for sustainable thermochemical energy cycles
Courses taught this academic year: MECHENG 3501: Introduction to Engineering Thermodynamics
Favorite hobby: Hiking
compiled by Meggie Biss, College of Engineering Communications | biss.11@osu.edu
