Eight faculty from the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing have been named to endowed chairs.
Menachem Elimelech joined the Rice University faculty Jan. 1 as the Nancy and Clint Carlson Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Most recently, Elimelech was the Sterling Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University.
Elimelech is among the world’s leading researchers in energy-efficient desalination and wastewater reuse. His research also focuses on developing advanced materials for water decontamination technologies and exploring environmental applications of nanomaterials.
B.J. Fregly, professor of mechanical engineering and of bioengineering, has been promoted to the Trustee Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering.
Fregly joined the Rice faculty in 2017 and also serves as a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar in Cancer Research. His research focuses on developing personalized surgical and neurorehabilitation treatments for individuals with movement impairments by combining neuromusculoskeletal computer models of individual patients with computational simulation and design optimization methods.
Christopher Jermaine has been named the Victor E. Cameron Professor of Computer Science.
Jemaine joined the Rice faculty in 2009 and currently serves as the chair of the Department of Computer Science. His research interests include developing computer systems for optimized large-scale data analytics and machine learning technologies.
Lydia Kavraki has been named the Kenneth and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing. Kavraki holds her primary appointment in computer science and joint appointments with the departments of electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and bioengineering. She is the director of the Ken Kennedy Institute.
Kavraki’s research develops AI and the algorithmics needed to connect the digital to the physical world. In her robotics work, she develops methodologies for motion planning and for reasoning under uncertainty, and multi-modal frameworks to instruct robots and collaborate with them. In computational biomedicine, she develops AI methods for understanding biomolecular interactions and aiding the design of new therapeutics.
Qilin Li, professor of civil and environmental engineering, is now a Karl F. Hasselmann Professor in Engineering.
Li’s research interests include advanced materials and technologies for water and wastewater treatment and environmental applications of nanotechnology. She joined the Rice faculty in 2006 and serves as the co-director of the Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Center, and a thrust lead of the Rice WaTER Institute.
Jun Lou, professor of materials science and nanoengineering and of chemistry, has been promoted to a Karl F. Hasselmann Professor in Engineering.
Lou joined the Rice faculty in 2005. His research interests include nanomaterial synthesis, nanomechanical characterization and nanodevice fabrication for energy, environment and biomedical applications.
Karen Lozano joined the Rice faculty Jan. 1 as the Trustee Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering and chair of the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering. Most recently, she was the Julia Beecherl Endowed Professor of Mechanical Engineering and founding director of the Ph.D. program in materials science and engineering and of the Nanotechnology Center at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Lozano’s research focuses on nanofibers and nanofiber-based devices as well as the development of materials for biomedical and aerospace applications.
Rafael Verduzco, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice, has been named the A.J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, effective July 1, 2025.
Verduzco joined the Rice faculty in 2009 and holds a joint appointment in materials science and nanoengineering. His lab focuses on developing polymers for applications relevant to energy and the environment.
“Excellence in research, teaching, and service is the cornerstone of our school’s mission, and recognizing individuals who epitomize this standard is a top priority,” said Luay Nakhleh, William and Stephanie Sick Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing. “These eight faculty members exemplify the level of excellence we aspire to achieve.”