Stevens Adds 20 Faculty Members for 2020-2021

Stevens Institute of Technology has opened its doors to 20 new faculty members for the 2020-2021 academic year, continuing the university’s effort to broaden the impact of its research and teaching and meet the needs of a growing student body.

The influx of high-caliber faculty members underscores Stevens’ ambition to continue its upward trajectory despite the effects of the pandemic. It marks the third consecutive year that the university has added a substantial number of new faculty; for 2018-2019, Stevens brought in a record 30 faculty members and for 2019-2020 it welcomed 24. Overall, 32 percent of the faculty is new to Stevens over the past four years.

Stevens’ new faculty members come from prestigious institutions in the United States and abroad. They were recruited because of their ability to make an impact on research and education in the university’s strategic priority areas: artificial intelligence, data science, financial systems, complex systems, biomedical engineering and sustainability.

“Faculty define the character and reputation of the university,” said Christophe Pierre, Stevens’ provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Our newest members represent top research and teaching talent. They are part of an ongoing faculty renewal that will enable Stevens to continue carrying out its mission of developing knowledge and applying technology toward solving some of the most important problems we face.”

Below are this year’s new faculty members:

College of Arts and Letters

Nicholas Byrd, Assistant Professor, Science, Technology & Society (joining in summer 2021)
Ph.D.: Florida State University
Recent Affiliation: Florida State University
Research Focus: Ethics, Cognitive Science and Philosophy of Science

School of Business

Pallavi Pal, Assistant Professor, Economics
Ph.D.: Michigan State University
Recent Affiliation: Michigan State University
Research Focus: Economics of Digitization, Industrial Organization, Game Theory

Josep Tribo, Associate Professor, Strategy
Ph.D.: University Autonoma of Barcelona
Recent Affiliation: University Carlos III
Research Focus: Corporate Social Responsibility, Strategy, Innovation, Corporate Finance

Ye (Emma) Wang, Assistant Professor, Finance
Ph.D.: University of Arizona
Recent Affiliation: University of Arizona
Research Focus: Corporate Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Bank Debt

Bei Yan, Assistant Professor, Information Systems
Ph.D.: University of Southern California
Recent Affiliation: University of California, Santa Barbara
Research Focus: Human Machine Teaming, Big Data, Group Dynamics, Social Networks

School of Systems and Enterprises

Ting Liao, Assistant Professor, Smart Systems
Ph.D.: Stanford University
Recent Affiliation: Stanford University
Research Focus: User-Centered Design, Mechatronics, Data Science

Feng Liu, Assistant Professor, Healthcare Systems
Ph.D.: University of Texas, Arlington
Recent Affiliation: Harvard Medical School
Research Focus: Brain Imaging, Medical Informatics, Machine Learning

Oluwafemi Richard Oyeleke, Assistant Professor, Software Systems
Ph.D.: Iowa State University
Recent Affiliation: Iowa State University
Research Focus: Smart Health Analytics, Digital Health Systems, Optimal Aging

Changyue Song, Assistant Professor, System Analytics
Ph.D.: University of Wisconsin, Madison
Recent Affiliation: University of Wisconsin, Madison
Research Focus: Data Analytics, System Informatics, Data Science

School of Engineering and Science

Marouane Temimi, Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental & Ocean Engineering
Ph.D.: University of Quebec, Canada
Recent Affiliation: Khalifa University, UAE
Research Focus: Remote Sensing, Water Resources, Hydrology

Tegan Brennan, Assistant Professor, Computer Science 
Ph.D.: University of California, Santa Barbara
Recent Affiliation: University of California, Santa Barbara
Research Focus: Information Flow, Software Engineering, Computer Security

Jason J. Corso, Professor, SIAI Director, Viola Ward Brinning and Elbert Calhoun Brinning Endowed Chair, Computer Sciences (joining in January 2021)
Ph.D.: The Johns Hopkins University
Recent Affiliation: University of Michigan
Research Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Data Science and Machine Learning, Robot Perception

Yanghyo Kim, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering 
Ph.D.: University of California, Los Angeles
Recent Affiliation: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington
Research Focus: High-Speed Data Communication, Millimeter-Wave Active Sensors

Philippe Meunier, Teaching Associate Professor, Computer Science (joining in summer 2021)
Ph.D.: Northeastern University
Recent Affiliation: United International College, China
Research Focus: Object-Oriented Programming Languages

Junjian Qi, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering 
Ph.D.: Tsingua University, China
Recent Affiliation: University of Central Florida
Research Focus: Electric Power Systems, Cyber-System Security

Kathrin Smetana, Assistant Professor, Mathematical Sciences 
Ph.D.: University of Muenster, Germany
Recent Affiliation: University of Twente, Netherlands
Research Focus: Domain Decomposition, Computational Earth Sciences

Gizem Acar, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering 
Ph.D.: Michigan State University
Recent Affiliation: University of Maryland
Research Focus: Dynamics and Vibration, Wind Turbines, Wave/Noise Propagation

Shima Hajimirza, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering 
Ph.D.: University of Texas, Austin
Recent Affiliation: Texas A&M University
Research Focus: Thermal Fluid Sciences, Renewable Energy

Jason Rabinovitch, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering 
Ph.D.: California Institute of Technology
Recent Affiliation: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California
Research Focus: Space Systems, High-Speed Flows, Comp Fluid Mechanics

Ting Lu, Teaching Assistant Professor, Physics 
Ph.D.: University of Waterloo, Canada
Recent Affiliation: Stevens Institute of Technology (lecturer)
Research Focus: Observational Astronomy, Astrophysics