New Faculty 2025

The spring 2024 issue of Rice Engineering Magazine is here!

At Rice Engineering, we are driven by a passion for innovation and a commitment to responsible engineering practices. It’s with great excitement that we unveil the new design of Rice Engineering magazine, which underscores our dedication to excellence in research, education, and service. The 2023-24 issue is full of news about how Rice Engineering is solving for greater good.

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New Faculty

Rice Engineering and Computing is expanding with the hiring of 16 tenured/tenure-track and 16 teaching and research faculty members, reflecting the school's dedication to growth in both research and teaching.

The new hires, spanning all nine departments, enhance Rice Engineering and Computing’s key research areas: health and well-being, energy and sustainability, resilient and adaptive communities, advanced materials, and future computing. The growth also aligns closely with the university’s ambitious 10-year strategic plan to become a premier research and teaching institution. All new faculty members started at Rice on July 1, 2024, except where otherwise indicated.

Read their bios: https://eng.rice.edu/2024NewFaculty

Tenured and tenure-track

Menachem Elimelech Nancy and Clint Carlson Chair in Molecular Nanotechnology and professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) with a joint appointment in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) Research Expertise: Membrane-based processes for energy-efficient desalination and wastewater reuse, advanced materials for next-generation separation and water decontamination technologies, and environmental applications of nanomaterials	Keya Ghonasgi Assistant professor of mechanical engineering, effective July 1, 2025 Research Expertise: Human-robot interaction, motor control and learning, and wearable technologies for human health and performance	Shuvomoy Das Gupta Assistant professor of computational applied mathematics and operations research (CMOR), effective July 1, 2025 Research Expertise: Developing methodologies for constructing the provably fastest algorithms for optimization problems arising in machine learning, business analytics and data science
Yong Lin Kong Assistant professor of mechanical engineering Research Expertise: Advanced manufacturing of nanomaterials-based electronics and biomedical systems	Karen Lozano William Marsh Rice Trustee Chair, professor and department chair of materials science and nanoengineering Research Expertise: Synthesis–structure–property relationships of nanofibers and polymer-based composites, agile manufacturing of nanofiber systems for scalable applications, and community building through mentoring, workforce development, and inclusive innovation in materials science	Xuedan Ma Associate professor of materials science and nanoengineering Research Expertise: Quantum optics, nanophotonics, high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy, and low-dimensional semiconductor and spintronic materials
Guilherme Migliato Marega Assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering, effective Jan. 1, 2026 Research Expertise: Using emerging nanomaterials to create new devices and systems for advanced computing technologies.	Srujan Meesala Assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering Research Expertise: Performing experimental research on quantum electrical and optical circuits and novel nanoscale devices for next-generation quantum information systems	Harris Pirie Assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering, effective Jan. 1, 2026 Research Expertise: Quantum materials with strong electron interactions, which often produce unexpected, emergent phases, like high-temperature superconductivity or fractional quantum Hall states
Xinwu Qian Assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering Research Expertise: Mathematical modeling and data-driven methods for transportation problems, focusing on electrification, public transportation and shared mobility applications	Nishal Shah Assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering Research Expertise: Building computational tools for basic systems neuroscience and neuroengineering to develop more effective brain-computer interfaces	Christina Tringides Assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering Research Expertise: Developing new materials and neurotechnologies to interface with the nervous system, from the cell to organ levels, and for both in vivo and in vitro applications
Yuke Wang Assistant professor of computer science, effective July 1, 2025 Research Expertise: Deep-learning systems and GPU-based parallel and distributed computing	Chen Wei Assistant professor of computer science, effective July 1, 2025 Research Expertise: The intersection of machine learning and computer vision; developing flexible, general-purpose intelligent systems	Jiarong Xing Assistant professor of computer science, effective July 1, 2025 Research Expertise: Computer systems, networking and security, with a focus on designing secure, efficient, scalable and easy-to-manage networked systems for cloud data centers and large-scale machine-learning infrastructures
Everett Zofchak Assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, effective Jan. 1, 2027 Research Expertise: Understanding the fundamentals of ion and small molecule transport in materials for water and energy applications
Non-tenure Track
Vivek Boominathan Assistant research professor in electrical and computer engineering Focus Areas: The intersection of computational imaging, computer vision, machine learning and applied optics	Lucas Garcia Camargo Assistant teaching professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering Focus Areas: Computational modeling for ion homeostasis; student advising and engineering education	Anjum Chida Lecturer in computer science Focus Areas: Artificial intelligence, advanced algorithm design and machine learning
Marya Cokar Lecturer in the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership Focus Areas: Renewable energy production via microorganisms; leadership and student mentoring	Mario EscobarAssistant research professor in bioengineering Focus Areas: Developing genetic tools for controlling the number and function of mitochondria, new methods for controlling the energy levels in the heart, and therapies to help patients with heart failure	Xiaoyun Fu Lecturer in computer science Focus Areas: Computational thinking, algorithms and theory of computation.
Bishal Lamichhane Assistant research professor in electrical and computer engineering Focus Areas: Bio-behavioral modeling for health applications using wearable sensing, speech processing, computer vision and machine learning	Jiaxing Liang Pfeiffer Postdoctoral Instructor in computational applied mathematics and operations research Focus Areas: Numerical analysis, scientific computing, uncertainty quantification, statistical sampling and computational physics of fusion	Lorenzo Luzi Assistant teaching professor in D2K/statistics Focus Areas: Artificial intelligence, particularly generative models; mentoring students and pedagogy
Jose Roberto Moreto Assistant teaching professor in electrical and computer engineering Focus Areas: Turbulent flow measurement and characterization aimed at improving and developing turbulence models	Lisa O'Bryan Assistant research professor in electrical and computer engineering Focus Areas: Complex systems science, behavioral ecology, psychology and engineering	Yu Kee Ooi Assistant teaching professor in electrical and computer engineering Focus Areas: Device fabrication and semiconductor defect engineering
Denizhan Yavas Assistant teaching professor in mechanical engineering Focus Areas: General areas of experimental and computational mechanics of novel engineering materials; more specifically, deformation and failure mechanisms in advanced composite materials	Xiang Zhang Assistant research professor in materials science and nanoengineering Focus Areas: Two-dimensional nanomaterials, diamond synthesis, and decarbonization using plasma techniques	Zhenjiang Zhang Assistant research professor in bioengineering Focus Areas: Designing multifunctional nanomaterials for disease treatment
Zhongyuan Zhao Assistant research professor in electrical and computer engineering Focus Areas: Graph-based machine learning, resource allocation in wireless networks and distributed intelligence in networked systems