Al Faruque Honored by Academic Senate

Nov. 13, 2017 - A Samueli School professor was among a handful of faculty members recognized for their accomplishments by the UC Irvine Academic Senate this month. Mohammad Al Faruque, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, won the Distinguished Assistant Professor Award for Research.

The Distinguished Faculty Awards ceremony, held at the Newkirk Alumni Center on Nov. 6, also included recognition for service, mentorship and teaching. In total, the Academic Senate honored eight professors and lecturers.

Al Faruque, who researches system-level design of embedded and cyberphysical systems, joined UCI in 2012 after having been a scientist at Siemens Corporate Research and Technology in Princeton, N.J.

Born in a small city in Bangladesh, Al Faruque says he always knew he wanted to be an engineer, “like my father.” Upon graduation from high school, he was one of only 45 admitted to the prestigious Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, the nation’s top engineering school. After earning a bachelor’s degree in 2002, he went to Germany for his advanced degrees, earning a master’s from Aachen Technical University in 2004 and his doctorate from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2009.

At UCI, he has built a strong program in the area of cyberphysical systems design and pioneered a new concept called “Secured-by-Design.” His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense and industry.

Last year, Al Faruque was the recipient of the Council on Electronic Design Automation Ernest S. Kuh Early Career Award from the IEEE, and the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award. Additionally, he has won best paper awards from the three most recognized computer automation and design conferences: Design, Automation and Test in Europe, the Design Automation Conference and the International Conference on Computer-Aided Design.

Al Faruque said he was “very honored” to receive his Academic Senate recognition. “I want to thank the Academic Senate, my department chair, my mentors, colleagues and the graduate students of my laboratory for their continued support,” he added.

- Anna Lynn Spitzer