Eight College of Engineering Faculty Members Awarded Tenure with Promotion
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On June 7, 2024, the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees awarded tenure with promotion to the following College of Engineering faculty members: Chengbo Ai, Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE); Amir Arbabi, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE); Peng Bai, Chemical Engineering (ChE); Wen Chen, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering (MIE); Xian Du, MIE; Emily Kumpel, CEE; Jinglei Ping, MIE; and Yeonsik Noh, ECE. Each of these faculty members has been promoted to the role of associate professor within their departments.
Chengbo Ai, civil and environmental engineering, conducts research focused on developing computational models, AI algorithms, and remote sensing hardware systems as applied in transportation asset management, geometry design, roadway safety, pavement preservation and maintenance, and other critical transportation applications. He has received grants from the Federal Highway Administration, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, and the MassVentures Acorn Innovation Fund. He has served as the CEE Commonwealth Honors College Program Director since 2018, and he assisted with the curriculum design for the first campus-wide Public Information Technology (PIT@UMass) certificate, which will be offered starting in Fall 2024. He serves on the Board of Directors for the New England Intelligent Transportation Society.
Amir Arbabi, electrical and computer engineering, leads the Photonics Laboratory, and his research involves the design, fabrication, and characterization of planar-optical components and systems. He is the recipient of a 2020 Manning/IALS Innovation Award, and most recently he was co-PI on a $2 million award from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative in support of the new Advanced Optics Manufacturing and Characterization Facility on the UMass Amherst campus. In 2021, his teaching was recognized by the UMass IEEE-HKN student branch with the student-selected Best ECE Junior Faculty award. He has also participated in the annual Summer Engineering Institute (SENGI) for underrepresented high school students, served twice on the Faculty Senate Research Council, and served as an associate editor for IEEE Photonics Journal, Sensors, Journal of Nanophotonics, and Frontiers in Electronic Materials.
Peng Bai, chemical engineering, conducts research focused on the development and application of molecular simulation, first-principles, and data science methods. His current interests include the catalytic upcycling of polymers, separation with nanoporous materials, and ion conduction in solid-state batteries. He is the recipient of a 2022 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, a 2021 ACS Petroleum Research Fund Young Investigator Award, and was named a 2023 Journal of Materials Chemistry Emerging Investigator. He regularly chairs sessions at the Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and within ChE he has served on the Graduate Program Committee and Graduate Admissions Committee.
Wen Chen, mechanical and industrial engineering, conducts research on additive manufacturing, physical metallurgy, architected materials, and the mechanical behavior of materials. He is the recipient of a 2024 Barbara H. and Joseph J. Goldstein Outstanding Junior Faculty Award from the College of Engineering, a 2023 NSF CAREER Award, and a 2022 SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer award. He has served on the MIE Graduate Committee, the Seminar Committee, and the Department Personnel Committee, and he has participated in the Women in Engineering Career Day organized by the College of Engineering. He is an active member of the Materials Research Society and the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, and he serves as an editorial board member for Scientific Reports, Metals and Materials International, and Materials Futures.
Xian Du, mechanical and industrial engineering, leads the Intelligent Sensing Lab and conducts research on the scale-up of roll to roll manufacturing processes from lab to industry using AI-assisted, high-precision, in-line inspection techniques. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the recipient of a 2020 NSF CAREER Award. He has served on the MIE Department Personnel Committee, the Lab Space Committee, and Department Seminar Committee, and as the faculty advisor for the UMass chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He has been active in furthering the diversity, equity, and inclusion goals of the College by serving as a Teaching for Inclusiveness, Diversity and Equity (TIDE) ambassador and by participating in the Eureka Summer Program, which has the goal of motivating girls to pursue post-secondary education and careers in STEM fields.
Emily Kumpel, civil and environmental engineering, conducts research on intermittent water supply, water quality in distribution systems, water access and equity, water quality monitoring, and the use of information and communication technologies in water delivery systems. She is the recipient of a 2024 NSF CAREER Award. She is also a 2023-2024 UMass Amherst ADVANCE Fellow, and in 2020 she was named UMass Amherst Center for Research in Families Scholar, which enhanced her on-campus collaborations on the study of the impact of water quality on families. She has received three prestigious teaching awards: the 2021 CEE Tighe Faculty Teaching Award, the 2022 College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award, and the 2024 Barbara H. and Joseph J. Goldstein Outstanding Junior Faculty Award. She served as the faculty advisor for the UMass chapter of Engineers Without Borders from 2017 until 2022, and she has served on the CEE DEI committee since 2020.
Yeonsik Noh, electrical and computer engineering, holds a joint appointment with the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing and leads the Nursing Engineering Laboratory, which focuses on the development of personalized healthcare and health management strategies and systems based on wearable technology from both nursing and engineering perspectives. He is the recipient of a 2023 NSF CAREER Award. He has participated in the annual Summer Engineering Institute (SENGI) and he currently serves on the UMass Amherst General Education Council. In addition, he has served as a guest editor for Sensorsand Frontiers in Electronics, and as an associate editor of the Biomedical Sensors and Wearable Systems track at the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.
Jinglei Ping, mechanical and industrial engineering, conducts research on the development of novel atomic-layer nanomaterials, building scientific understanding of their transduction properties at nano-bio interfaces, and the translation of two-dimensional device structures into biosensing applications in healthcare, point-of-care diagnostics, and environmental monitoring. He is the recipient of a 2024 NSF CAREER Award, a 2023 NIH MIRA Award, a 2022 NIH Trailblazer Award, and a 2020 Air Force Office of Scientific Research YIP Award. He has served on the MIE Graduate Committee, the Department Personnel Committee, the Remote Teaching Committee, and the Department Seminar Committee, and he has participated in the Eureka Summer Program.