Eleven doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing will embark on their journey toward academic careers this year with tailored support from the Future Faculty Fellows program.
Selected based on their strong commitment to mentorship, innovation, and teaching, the Fellows are poised to make a positive impact with their careers. “Members of this cohort have the potential to become successful academics who will shape the future of their fields and inspire the next generation of engineers and researchers,” said Renata Ramos, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Rice Engineering and Computing.
The Future Faculty Fellows program offers one-on-one consultations, tailored workshops, and mock interviews to help Fellows prepare for tenure track engineering faculty position applications and interviews.
Throughout the year, workshops and panels led by Rice University’s Activate Engineering Communication Program, the Center for Teaching Excellence, and Rice Engineering and Computing faculty give the Fellows expert advice on topics such as preparing a job talk or interview tips to help Fellows stand out in the job market.
Now in its sixth year of operation, the Future Faculty Fellows program plays a key role in elevating the profile of Rice Engineering and Computing.
“Graduating students and mentoring postdoctoral fellows who go on to become faculty members is a hallmark of leading institutions,” said Luay Nakhleh, William and Stephanie Sick Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing. “While our school has a strong record in this area, we are committed to further strengthening our students’ support systems. The Future Faculty Fellows program is central to that effort, equipping our scholars with the tools and support they need to succeed on the academic job market.”
Meet the 2025-26 Future Faculty Fellows:
Kun Woo Cho recently joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice as a postdoctoral researcher, working in the lab of Ashu Sabharwal. Her research focuses on building high-frequency metamaterial surfaces and lenses for wireless communication and imaging systems. She earned her doctorate in computer science from Princeton University in 2024 and a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University at Buffalo in 2018. She is a recipient of the 2025 Siebel Scholarship, 2024 EECS Rising Star at MIT, and the Princeton SEAS Excellence Award in 2023.
Raul Garcia is a doctoral student in computational mathematics and operations research working in the lab of Andrew Schaefer. He focuses on operations research, developing mathematical frameworks for optimal decision-making in healthcare. Garcia earned his bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from the University of California, Davis.
Sathvik Iyengar is a materials engineer and doctoral fellow working in the lab of Pulickel Ajayan. His research focuses on synthesizing and fabricating novel structures based on 2D materials, as well as understanding their structural, chemical, and electronic properties. These efforts are aimed at developing emerging semiconductor device architectures and advancing fundamental physics. He is a 2024 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellow at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, a 2023 Inaugural Quad Fellow named at the White House as part of a flagship initiative to promote scientific exchange and collaboration among the United States, Japan, India, and Australia, and a 2021 NSF-RT Bioelectronics Fellow. His goal is to one day lead a research team that thrives on confidence and creativity, bridging diverse disciplines and cultures.
Zhanzhao Li is a postdoctoral researcher working with Kai Gong in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research focuses on developing advanced materials informatics approaches to decode the complex behavior of concrete and to accelerate the discovery of sustainable, durable materials for next-generation infrastructure. Zhanzhao is also a Rice Academy Fellow.
Kashif Liaqat is a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering working with Laura Schaefer to specialize in energy systems. His research integrates energy systems, thermal-fluid sciences, computational modeling, and artificial intelligence to improve energy efficiency and advance sustainable decarbonization. He earned his master’s degree in mechanical engineering as a Fulbright Scholar at Florida State University and completed his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at the Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering, and Management Sciences, Pakistan.
Sarah Libring is a postdoctoral researcher in bioengineering in the lab of Cynthia Reinhart-King. Her research focuses on metastatic triple negative breast cancer, looking at premetastatic niche development and the interaction of cancer cells with the stroma and with stroma-producing cells. Libring received a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and a doctorate from Purdue University, both in biomedical engineering.
Jiaming Liu is a doctoral student in statistics working with Meng Li. His research areas include high-dimensional statistics, statistical machine learning, variational inference, uncertainty quantification, and Bayesian statistics. He received his master’s degree in statistics from Washington University in St. Louis and his bachelor’s degree in statistics from Tongji University. He received the 2025 American Statistical Association's Section on Bayesian Statistical Science student paper award.
Yao Rong is a Rice Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Computer Science, where she collaborates with Dr. Vaibhav Unhelkar and other faculty across the department to build actionable explainable AI (XAI) that helps users understand AI models and take informed actions. By drawing on principles from human factors and psychology, her work aims to facilitate interaction with complex AI systems. Yao Rong earned her doctorate and master’s degree in computer science from the Technical University of Munich and dual bachelor’s degrees from Tongji University and Munich University of Applied Sciences.
Nicolae Sapoval is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Computer Science working in the lab of Luay Nakhleh. His research focuses on scalable phylogenomic network inference and applications of deep learning to comparative genomics. Sapoval received his doctorate in computer science from Rice and his bachelor’s degrees in computer science and mathematics from the University of Chicago.
Harsh Vardhan is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering working in Rafael Verduzco’s Polymer Engineering Laboratory. In his research, he investigates the role of Covalent Organic Frameworks in PFAS adsorption and degradation and selective removal of heavy metal ions from water. Vardhan is a Rice Academy junior fellow and earned his master’s degree and doctorate in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur and University of South Florida, respectively.
Katie Young is a postdoctoral researcher in bioengineering working in the lab of Cynthia Reinhart-King, where she studies how cell mechanical properties act as a driving force of metastasis in in vivo models of breast cancer. Young completed her doctorate in biomedical engineering in a joint program between Georgia Tech and Emory University, and she earned her bachelor’s degree in the same field from the University of Texas at Austin.