As the Fall 2021 semester kicks into gear, the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science welcomes an academically strong and diverse group of new faculty members into its ranks—the result of a creative approach to issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The pandemic caused most universities, especially large and state-supported institutions, to freeze their typical hiring cycles," says Svetlana Tatic-Lucic, professor and associate dean for faculty development in the Rossin College. "We saw this as a moment for Lehigh to follow a different path, an opportunity to attract top scholar–educators in areas of critical importance here on our campus and around the world. In doing so, we also put particular emphasis on identifying new professors with passion and leadership experience around initiatives that help to create diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning environments. We are inspired by the sheer level of talent this activity has delivered to Lehigh, and we look forward to significant contributions from this group to our educational and research missions."

Congratulations and welcome to these new members of the Rossin College faculty:

Arielle Carr, Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering

Arielle Carr

Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering

Carr has served Lehigh and CSE as a Professor of Practice since 2018, and in 2020 earned Lehigh's Early Career Award for Distinguished Teaching. Her research is in the fields of applied linear algebra and numerical analysis, and her outreach focuses on the promotion and retention of women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM.)

Ebru Demir, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics

Ebru Demir

Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics

Demir's research investigates locomotion in complex fluids and biological environments for biomedical and environmental applications such as drug delivery, diagnostics, and waste elimination. Upon her arrival on campus, she will focus on utilizing fluid mechanics/dynamics and machine learning techniques to solve engineering problems across various engineering disciplines, including robotics, biomedical engineering, and advanced manufacturing.

Niels Holten-Anderson, Associate Professor, Bioengineering and Materials Science and Engineering

Niels Holten-Anderson

Associate Professor, Bioengineering and Materials Science and Engineering

Holten-Anderson studies bio-inspired materials, seeking to employ design principles extracted from nature in the development of novel synthetic materials that help overcome global challenges in energy, the environment and health. Prior to his appointment at Lehigh, he served since 2012 as a professor of polymers and soft matter at MIT.

Javad Khazaei, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Javad Khazaei

Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Javad Khazaei is director of Integrated, Resilient, and Intelligent Energy Systems Laboratory at Lehigh University. Between 2016 and 2021, he was an assistant professor with a joint appointment in electrical engineering and architectural engineering with Penn State University. He conducts research in smart grid dynamics, control, optimization and cybersecurity, as well as water-energy microgrids.

Stephen Lee-Urban, Professor of Practice, Computer Science and Engineering

Stephen Lee-Urban

Professor of Practice, Computer Science and Engineering

Lee-Urban is a triple-degree alumnus of Lehigh’s CSE program, with research interests in the fields of plan generation and reuse, improved understandability and informability of artificial intelligence approaches, AI in games, cognitive systems, case-based reasoning and narrative computing. Prior to his return to Lehigh, Lee-Urban served as a post-doctoral researcher at Georgia Tech.

Faegheh Moazeni, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faegheh Moazeni

Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Moazeni’s research interests include cybersecurity of water systems, water-energy nexus, mathematical optimization of interconnected critical infrastructure systems, and physical, chemical, and biological treatment methods of water, among other topics. Prior to joining Lehigh, she was a faculty member at Penn State Harrisburg, teaching environmental engineering courses and performing research on smart water systems.

Akwum Onwunta, Assistant Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Akwum Onwunta

Assistant Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Onwunta is a computational scientist who has been working on quantitative credit risk modeling, Bayesian statistical inverse problems, and optimization problems governed by differential equations. Prior to joining Lehigh, he held postdoctoral research positions at George Mason University and the University of Maryland, as well as serving as a quantitative risk analyst at Deutsche Bank in Germany.

Yu Yang, Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering

Yu Yang

Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering

Yang studies data science, cyber-physical systems, and human-system interaction. The overarching goal of his research is the technical integration of data, humans, and systems toward the concept of human-system synergy. Yang earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from Rutgers University, and a B.Eng in software engineering from Northeastern University.

The following new faculty members are set to begin their activities at Lehigh in 2022:

  • Tomas Gonzalez-Fernandez, Assistant Professor, Bioengineering
  • Bilal Khan, Professor, College of Health and Computer Science and Engineering
  • Gabrielle String, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering and College of Health
  • Lichao Sun, Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering