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 focus on 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.
“As we continue to grow our school, attracting top-tier faculty who add to our existing strengths is essential to our ability to continue delivering world-class education and leading research,” said Luay Nakhleh, the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering and Computing. “This latest hiring initiative demonstrates our commitment to both academic excellence and innovative research, ultimately benefiting our students and the broader engineering community.”
All new faculty members started at Rice on July 1, except where otherwise indicated.
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): He will join the Rice faculty on Jan. 1. He earned his Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1989. His research focuses on 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. He is presently the Sterling Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006.
Keya Ghonasgi, assistant professor of mechanical engineering (MECH): She earned her M.S. from Columbia University in 2018 and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2023, both in MECH. She has since been a postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Tech. Her research focuses on human-robot interaction, motor control and learning, and wearable technologies for human health and performance. She will join the Rice faculty on July 1, 2025.
Shuvomoy Das Gupta, assistant professor of computational applied mathematics and operations research (CMOR): He earned his Ph.D. this year in operations research from MIT. His research interests include developing methodologies for constructing the provably fastest algorithms for optimization problems arising in machine learning, business analytics and data science. He will join the Rice faculty on July 1, 2025.
Yong Lin Kong, assistant professor of MECH: He earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and materials science from Princeton in 2016. After two years as a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, he joined the University of Utah in 2018 as an assistant professor, and was promoted to associate professor in 2024. His research focuses on the 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 (MSNE): She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. from Rice in the department then called mechanical engineering and materials science in 1996 and 1999, respectively. In 2000 she joined the faculty at the University of Texas–Pan American (later, UTRGV), where she is presently the Julia Beecherl Endowed Professor of MECH and founding director of the Nanotechnology Center at UTRGV. In 2023 she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. She will join the Rice faculty on Jan. 1, 2025.
Xuedan Ma, associate professor of MSNE: She earned her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Hamburg, Germany, in 2011. Before joining Rice she was an RD3 scientist at the Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory. Her research interests include quantum optics, nanophotonics, high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy, and low-dimensional semiconductor and spintronic materials.
Guilherme Migliato Marega, assistant professor of MSNE: He earned his Ph.D. in microsystems and microelectronics from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland in 2023. He is currently an experimental postdoctoral fellow in the Kavli Institute for Nanoscale Science at Cornell University. His research focuses on using emerging nanomaterials to create new devices and systems for advanced computing technologies. He will join the Rice faculty on Jan. 1, 2026.
Srujan Meesala, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE): He earned his Ph.D. in applied physics from Harvard in 2019 and was an Institute for Quantum Information and Matter Postdoctoral Scholar at Caltech. He performs experimental research on quantum electrical and optical circuits and novel nanoscale devices for next-generation quantum information systems.
Harris Pirie, assistant professor of MSNE: He earned his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard in 2021 and has since served as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the University of Oxford, U.K. His research focuses on quantum materials with strong electron interactions, which often produce unexpected, emergent phases, like high-temperature superconductivity or fractional quantum Hall states. He will join the Rice faculty on Jan. 1, 2026.
Xinwu Qian, assistant professor of CEE: He earned his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Purdue University in 2018. He served as an assistant professor and Hewson Faculty Fellow at the University of Alabama from 2020 to 2024. His research interests include mathematical modeling and data-driven methods for transportation problems, focusing on electrification, public transportation and shared mobility applications.
Nishal Shah, assistant professor of ECE: He earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 2020, followed by work as a postdoctoral researcher, both at Stanford University. His research aims to build computational tools for basic systems neuroscience and neuroengineering to develop more effective brain-computer interfaces. He is a core member of the Neuroengineering Initiative. He starts at Rice on January 1, 2025.
Christina Tringides, assistant professor of MSNE: She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University/MIT in biophysics and health science technology in 2022. Since then she has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Eidgenössische Technische Hochshule Zürich, Switzerland. She is a core member of the Neuroengineering Initiative at Rice. Her research focuses on 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 (CS): He earned his Ph.D. in CS from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2024. His research interests include deep-learning systems and GPU-based parallel and distributed computing. His doctoral work spans deep neural networks, graph neural networks and deep reinforcement learning. His goal is to facilitate scalable and secure deep learning. He will join the Rice faculty on July 1, 2025.
Chen Wei, assistant professor of CS. This year she will earn her Ph.D. in CS from Johns Hopkins University. Her research lies at the intersection of machine learning and computer vision. She works to develop flexible, general-purpose intelligent systems. She will join the Rice faculty on July 1, 2025.
Jiarong Xing, assistant professor of CS: He earned his Ph.D. in CS from Rice this year. His research spans 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. He will join the Rice faculty on July 1, 2025.
Everett Zofchak, assistant professor of ChBE: Everett received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently a post-doc in the Electrochemical Energy Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research will focus on understanding the fundamentals of ion and small molecule transport in materials for water and energy applications. He will join the Rice faculty on Jan. 1, 2027.
Non-tenure track:
Vivek Boominathan, assistant research professor in ECE: He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in ECE from Rice in 2016 and 2019, respectively. Since then he has worked as a postdoctoral research associate and research scientist in the ECE department. His work lies at the intersection of computational imaging, computer vision, machine learning and applied optics.
Lucas Garcia Camargo, assistant teaching professor in ChBE: He earned his Ph.D. in bioengineering (BIOE) this year from Rice. He worked in the lab of Robert Raphael, associate professor of BIOE, developing computational insights into endolymphatic hydrops, particularly ion transport and fluid homeostasis in the inner ear, while teaching four courses.
Anjum Chida, lecturer in CS: She earned her Ph.D. in CS from Georgia State University in 2012 and since 2015 has served as an assistant and associate professor of instruction at the University of Texas, Dallas. She has taught in such areas as artificial intelligence, advanced algorithm design and machine learning.
Marya Cokar, lecturer in the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership: She earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Calgary, Canada, in 2013 and joined Rice two years later in 2015 as a lecturer in ChBE. She is chief technical officer and co-founder of Biosfera Group in Stafford, Texas, a company that turns waste carbon into sustainable materials.
Mario Escobar, assistant research professor in BIOE: He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry and cell biology from Rice in 2023 and since then has worked as a research specialist at Rice and Baylor College of Medicine. His work focuses on developing genetic tools for controlling the number and function of mitochondria. He develops new methods for controlling the energy levels in the heart and creates therapies to help patients with heart failure.
Xiaoyun Fu, lecturer in CS: She earned an M.A. in chemistry from the University of Delaware in 2016 and a Ph.D. in CS from Iowa State University in 2023. She then spent a year as a lecturer in the Engineering Projects in Community Service program at Purdue University. Her teaching specialties include computational thinking, algorithms and theory of computation.
Bishal Lamichhane, assistant research professor in ECE: He earned his Ph.D. this year from Rice in ECE and works in the Digital Health Lab. His research interests include 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 (CMOR): She earned a Ph.D. this year in applied mathematics and statistics, and scientific computation, from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research interests include numerical analysis, scientific computing, uncertainty quantification, statistical sampling and computational physics of fusion.
Lorenzo Luzi, assistant teaching professor in D2K/statistics: He earned his Ph.D. from Rice in ECE in 2024. Since 2021, Luzi has worked as an intern with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and has taught ECE classes at Rice. His research has focused on artificial intelligence, particularly generative models. Now, he is primarily interested in teaching, mentoring students and pedagogy.
Jose Roberto Moreto, assistant teaching professor in ECE: He earned his Ph.D. last year in engineering sciences from San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego. His research interests include turbulent flow measurement and characterization aimed at improving and developing turbulence models.
Lisa O’Bryan, assistant research professor in ECE: She earned her Ph.D. in ecology, evolution and behavior from the University of Minnesota in 2015. In 2018 she joined Rice as a Rice Academy Postdoctoral Fellow. On Jan. 1, 2024, she became an assistant research professor in the ECE department. Her research spans complex systems science, behavioral ecology, psychology and engineering.
Yu Kee Ooi, assistant teaching professor in ECE: She earned her Ph.D. in microsystems engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2019. She has previously worked as a circuit design engineer at Kinetic Technologies and a process integration engineer at Advanced Analogic Technologies. Before joining Rice, she was an assistant professor in the engineering department at Utah Valley University. Her research interests include device fabrication and semiconductor defect engineering.
Denizhan Yavas, assistant teaching professor in MECH: He earned his Ph.D. in engineering mechanics and aerospace engineering from Iowa State University in 2018. Most recently he served as assistant professor of MECH at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. His research interests include the 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 MSNE: He earned his Ph.D. from Rice in applied physics/MSNE and served as a postdoctoral researcher and research scientist in the lab of Pulickel Ajayan, Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering and chair of the MSNE department. His research interests include two-dimensional nanomaterials, diamond synthesis, and decarbonization using plasma techniques.
Zhenjiang Zhang, assistant research professor in BIOE: He earned his Ph.D. in chemical biology from Peking University in 2010. He served as a postdoctoral researcher at the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology in Beijing and at Howard University in Washington, D.C. His research interests include designing multifunctional nanomaterials for disease treatment.
Zhongyuan Zhao, assistant research professor in ECE: He earned his Ph.D. in computer engineering from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in 2019, and since then has worked as a postdoctoral research associate in the ECE department at Rice. His research interests include graph-based machine learning, resource allocation in wireless networks and distributed intelligence in networked systems.