Faculty & Programs

Self-driving vehicles, drones, and robotic assistants are transforming industries including transportation, logistics, and health care. With new developments in hardware, AI, and machine learning, these autonomous agents can sense their surroundings with greater accuracy, understand complex environments, and engage in sophisticated reasoning. 

But despite such advancements, deploying robots in dynamic, real-world settings—and getting them to do what we want—remains difficult.

Dan M. Frangopol, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Emeritus, and Inaugural Fazlur R. Khan Endowed Chair of Structural Engineering and Architecture, Emeritus, at Lehigh University is the inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Service Award presented by the International Association of Structural Safety and Reliability (IASSAR).

Lehigh ISE Professor Luis F. Zuluaga has built an impressive portfolio of Pennsylvania industry-driven research projects, with total awarded funding exceeding $500K across diverse sectors such as supply chain optimization, industrial gas operations, and correctional systems planning. Supported by the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance (PITA), Dr. Zuluaga has led or co-led eight projects since 2013, often in collaboration with industry leaders such as Air Products and Johnson & Johnson.

Himanshu Jain, the T.L. Diamond Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Applied Science and a professor of materials science and engineering at Lehigh University, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Pardubice in the Czech Republic.

When trying to teach a complex subject, sometimes the best strategy is to wrap it in something familiar. 

Like a burrito. 

An ideal candidate for such an approach? Mathematical optimization, which uses math and computing tools to make decisions about complicated systems. It has the power to help a range of people from professionals in data science, engineering, and business, to individuals looking for a better route to work. But to the uninitiated, its promise can be a hard sell.  

Natasha Vermaak, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics at Lehigh University, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to pursue research in engineering in France for the 2025-2026 academic year.

MechE Associate Professor Natasha Vermaak leads the Thermostructural Lab where she addresses problems of structural and material degradation, durability, and resilience with implications spanning energy to aerospace applications.