Welcome to the Spring 2025 issue of Resolve—a magazine dedicated to research and educational innovation in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science at Lehigh University.

Resolve Magazine, Spring 2025This issue arrives as ambitious ideas and bold initiatives are taking shape across campus, propelling our academic community forward.

I am honored by the newly established Lewis Hay III ’77 ’08P ’11P and Sherry A. Hay ’78 ’08P ’11P Deanship in the Rossin College. Lew, an electrical engineering alumnus and former energy executive, is interviewed in the Q&A.

The Hays’ generosity is a transformative investment in the future of engineering at Lehigh. The endowment will provide seed funding for innovative educational programs, enhanced student learning, and faculty recruitment and development—fueling our momentum, advancing cutting-edge research, and empowering outstanding researchers, scholars, and educators. This includes the redesign of the first-year student experience and the people who truly “differentiate a program,” as Lew notes in his interview.

That momentum is further reflected in Lehigh’s recent achievement of R1 status in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the premier level of classification that signifies high research expenditures and graduation of doctoral students. This achievement is a result of Lehigh’s strategic focus on research infrastructure, faculty, and PhD programs, activities in which our college has played a vital role.

This elevated classification strengthens our efforts in faculty and student recruitment, research and partnerships, and international collaborations, while raising Lehigh’s academic profile.

Achieving R1 status is a result of Lehigh's strategic focus on research infranstructure, faculty and PhD programs.

Packard LabAs you will read in this issue, our research enterprise is indeed thriving, both in established areas of strength, such as infrastructure, and in emerging directions, including marine energy.

Our cover story highlights interdisciplinary research using artificial intelligence and advanced data science to enhance the strength and resilience of our infrastructure as it faces climate-driven extreme events and other hazards. We also check in with the Atlantic Marine Energy Center (AMEC), a multi-institutional research initiative led by Lehigh and one of only four National Marine Renewable Energy Centers in the United States. AMEC seeks to harness the power of the ocean as a sustainable and clean source of near-limitless energy.

This issue’s Educational Innovation highlights recent expansion in our experiential learning offerings, including a novel mentorship program pairing research-minded undergraduates with doctoral students, as well as a new makerspace focused on robotics, established with support from Lehigh alumnus and trustee Drew Freed ’83 ’17P  and his family.

We celebrate national-level accolades for several of our researchers, including associate professor Hannah Dailey, who has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the federal government’s top honor for early-career researchers in science and engineering.

Our Rising Star is computer scientist Lichao Sun, who is doing fascinating, wide-ranging work with AI to protect intellectual property, support medical decision-making, and evaluate the trustworthiness of the technology itself.

Last, but certainly not least, I am delighted to announce the election of Dan Frangopol, professor emeritus and pioneer in life-cycle civil engineering, to the National Academy of Engineering. This honor—perhaps the most prestigious recognition accorded to professional engineers—is a testament to his distinguished career. His work exemplifies the innovative spirit and commitment to excellence that define us as an institution.

I hope you enjoy this edition of Resolve; thank you as always for your interest in Lehigh Engineering!

Stephen P. DeWeerth, Professor and Dean
P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science
steve.deweerth@lehigh.edu