Faculty Members Accrue Acclaim in 2019
From research to service to teaching, the faculty of the UA Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering made significant strides in 2019.
Assistant professor Jianqiang Cheng is collaborating with Miguel Lejeune at the George Washington University to refine computationally efficient approaches for solving risk-averse linear matrix inequality optimization problems. He's also working with Boshi Yang at Clemson University to develop conic approximations for notoriously hard quadratically constrained quadratic programs.
Newly promoted associate professor Neng Fan continues using his expertise in optimization to help build a sustainable bio-economy for arid regions, and to co-lead a research working group for the NSF-funded TRIPODS project.
Professor Roberto Furfaro and assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering Jekan Thanga are the principal investigators on a project that will give student teams hands-on spacecraft hardware development experience. And OSIRIS-REx – the NASA asteroid sample return mission to which many SIE alumni and faculty, including Furfaro, have contributed over the past decade – finally arrived at Bennu. It's currently surveying the asteroid, with sample collection expected July 2020.
Dean Emeritus Jeffrey B. Goldberg retired from his role as interim provost of the University of Arizona – and was almost immediately named special adviser to UA President Robert C. Robbins.
Assistant professor David Gross’ Architecture Driven Systems Laboratory has made significant increases in the capabilities of the Architecture Creation Tool, Collaborative Command System, and the Integrated Sensor Viewer elements of the Systems Architecture Synthesis and Analysis Framework. Gross is also serving as a co-PI for a competitive Air Force Research Laboratory award and working on projects with Andrew J. Fuglevand in the UA College of Medicine – Tucson and Eric C. Pearce in the UA Department of Astronomy.
Professor Larry Head finished his service as interim dean and has returned to the faculty. He serves on the Arizona Governor’s Task Force for Self-Driving Vehicles, and recently weighed in on the risks and benefits of autonomous trucks. He also spoke to Arizona Public Media about the vulnerabilities of automated systems.
Assistant professor Hongyue Jin received the Rising Star Award at the LCA XIX Conference in September. She is starting two projects on techno-economic and life cycle analyses of lithium-ion battery recycling and microbial curing of cement in collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory, Rutgers University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Pavlo Krokhmal is leading an effort, joint with Texas A&M University and sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, to refine network analytics tools and methodologies that will improve our understanding of behavior of large complex networks and distributed systems.
Professor Wei Lin is the principal investigator on a project funded by the National Science Foundation to develop a framework for the interaction between individual vehicles and traffic control. His student Alex Lee has completed his PhD study, partially funded by this project, and is currently doing postdoctoral research at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Associate professor Jian Liu is working with professor of civil and architectural engineering and mechanics Kevin Lansey on a pressure-monitoring technique able to detect and locate pipe breaks in complex water distribution systems in real time.
Assistant professor Mohammed Shafae is collaborating with associate professor of materials science and engineering Krishna Muralidharan and assistant professor of architecture Aletheia Ida to develop high-strength variable porosity insulation building units with additive manufacturing control for improved building energy footprint. This effort is partially funded through Arizona Board of Regents' Innovation Fund.
Department Head Young-Jun Son will be the general chair for Winter Simulation Conference 2019, the premier international forum for disseminating recent advances in the field of dynamic systems modeling and simulation. The conference will be held Dec. 8-11 in National Harbor, Maryland. Son is also working with emergency medicine doctors and ear-nose-throat physicians to create AR- and VR-based surgical training tools.
Assistant professor Vignesh Subbian became a Center for University Education Scholarship Distinguished Fellow, and is also leading UA efforts to expand data literacy.
Professor Ricardo Valerdi had a great day at Chase Field in Phoenix, where his Science of Baseball program hosted over 4,000 K-12 students to learn about launch angles, fielding percentage, ballpark geometry, batting averages and Diamondbacks retired numbers. Valerdi's Science of Sport nonprofit also partnered with the LA Dodgers.
Professor Changxu "Sean" Wu is working on two important areas in human factors in 2019: 1) Driver safety research, including computational modeling of driver behavior and field studies of driver behavior, and 2) new inventions in modeling human and artificial intelligence to achieve human digital immortality, supported by Tech Launch Arizona.
Assistant professor Qiang Zhou is using data analytical methods and machine learning tools to guide design of 3D-printable antennas and discovery of novel materials, in collaboration with researchers in the departments of aerospace and mechanical engineering, electrical and computer engineering and math.