Four Talented Young Faculty Members Earn Tenure
July 12, 2017 - Four UC Irvine Samueli School engineering professors are now tenured faculty. Mohammad Al Faruque, Alon Gorodetsky, Wendy Liu and Timothy Rupert were promoted from assistant to associate professors on July 1, 2017, a promotion that includes tenure.
Al Faruque joined the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science as the Emulex Career Development Chair in 2012. He conducts research on system-level design of embedded systems and cyberphysical systems (CPS) with special interest in CPS design automation and security, model-based design and multicore systems. Recent awards include IEEE Early Career Prize and the Edison Patent Award. Additionally, he and his graduate student Korosh Vatanparvar received the best paper award last year at the IEEE/ACM Design Automation and Test in Europe (DATE) conference in Dresden, Germany.
Gorodetsky joined the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science in 2011. His research involves understanding and emulating the adaptive properties of squid skin. Funded by the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, he has developed novel bio-inspired materials, including infrared stealth camouflage coatings for military applications and bioelectronic devices for interfacing with living systems, as well as a new type of fabric that lets wearers regulate their own body temperature. Recent awards include the Presidential Early Career Award and the DARPA Young Faculty Award.
Liu, a biomedical engineer with a joint appointment in chemical engineering and materials science, joined UCI in 2010. Her research focuses on understanding how microenvironmental cues regulate cell behavior; this can lead to a better understanding of and treatment for cardiovascular disease and to the design of novel biomaterials with improved biocompatibility. Liu won a $1.5 million 2012 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award, a highly competitive grant for young investigators in biomedical research. She also received the Rising Star Award at the 2013 Biomedical Engineering Society’s Cell and Molecular Bioengineering Annual Conference and won a 2014 Samueli School Excellence in Research award from Dean Gregory Washington.
Rupert, a mechanical and aerospace engineer with a joint appointment in chemical engineering and materials science, joined UCI in 2011. His research involves engineering better metallic materials at the nanoscale, and he has amassed several honors since joining the UC Irvine faculty in 2011. He won a 2013 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, a 2015 U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Research Program grant and a Young Investigator award from the Department of Defense’s Army Research Office in 2016. Recently, he was recognized for exceptional research and technical accomplishments by the National Academy of Engineering, which selected him as one of 83 young engineers nationwide to take part in its 23rd annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium next September.
Faryar Jabbari, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, serves as the Samueli School associate dean for academic affairs. He calls tenure reviews “the most important decisions a university makes,” and in his associate dean role, offers advice and support during the process. “This year, with the candidates we had, it was one of the easiest and most pleasant parts of my job,” Jabbari said. “We had four outstanding individuals from different departments and fields, with little in common except being very good at everything they do.”
- Anna Lynn Spitzer
