SEAS welcomes 35 new faculty members

By Elizabeth Egan 

The new faculty members contribute to the University at Buffalo’s largest faculty-hiring initiative since the university joined the SUNY system in the 1960’s. They will support UB’s Top 25 Ambition and help to bring the benefits of SEAS research and educational excellence to global and local communities in ways that will impact the world for the better.

Learn more about each of SEAS’s newest faculty members, including their prior education, summarized research interests and what they are looking forward to in their new position. 

Mary Canty, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Prevention of orthopedic implant infections.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am eager to work closely with students and provide career guidance, drawing on my experience in both industry and academia. 

Education: PhD, University at Buffalo

Hometown: Buffalo, New York 

Filip Stefanovic, assistant professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Computational neurorehabilitation; computer-assisted health care.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I’m excited about working with cross-disciplinary teams of researchers from a variety of disciplines, such as rehabilitation, sports science, engineering, and medicine.

Education: PhD, McGill University

Hometown: Toronto, Canada

Jungeun (Jenny) Won, assistant professor of research, Department of Biomedical Engineering  

Research Interests: Developing biomedical optical imaging technologies.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am excited to be a part of the collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment at UB.

Education: PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

Hometown: Geoje, South Korea

Lin Zhang, assistant professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Smart electronics for biomedical engineering.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am excited about starting my professional journey here at UB, where I will have the opportunity to work with great faculty, supportive staff, and diverse students.

Education: PhD, Auburn University

Hometown: Xi’an, China

Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López, assistant professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Research Interests: Optimization; process design; life cycle assessment.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I'm most excited about joining the diverse and collaborative UB community, and I look forward to working with UB students, faculty, and staff while contributing to the mission of the university and my department.

Education: PhD, University of Michoacan

Hometown: Salamanca, Mexico

Jonathan Boualavong, assistant professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: Electrochemical separations for just climate interventions.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I'm excited to work with UB students on wicked sustainability problems and help them fall in love with doing science and engineering along the way.

Education: PhD, Pennsylvania State University

Hometown: Columbia, Maryland

Xudong (Andrew) Fan, assistant professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: Intelligent urban water systems.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am excited about the Empire AI consortium, which will create and launch a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence computing center on UB’s campus.

Education: PhD, Case Western Reserve University

Hometown: Linyi, China

Samantha Mehltretter, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: Engineering within natural aquatic systems.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I’m excited to teach UB’s students and think through complex environmental engineering challenges with them.

Education: PhD, University of Guelph

Hometown: Oakville, Canada

Mark Voisinet, associate professor of practice, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: Computer-aided design.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am looking forward to working with students to prepare them for rewarding careers in either the private sector or in research while working in a collaborative and inclusive campus environment.

Education: MSIT, Buffalo State University

Hometown: Tonawanda, New York

Adekunle Afolabi, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: AI-enabled robust software for health care.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: The diversity of students, faculty and staff.

Education: PhD, University of Eastern Finland

Hometown: Erin-Osun, Nigeria

Bakr Albahri, associate professor of teaching, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Machine learning and computer architecture.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: UB is like a small international city with high education and research quality.

Education: PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago

Yorah Bosse, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Programming; education; misconceptions; patterns; difficulties.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: The most exciting part of starting a new job at UB is stepping out of my comfort zone, as everything is new to me: a new country, colleagues, language, a new university, new systems, challenges, rules, and more.

Education: PhD, University of São Paulo

Hometown: Presidente Getúlio, Brazil

Haipeng Cai, associate professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Software/systems security; software engineering.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: The collaborative and collegial environment as well as exciting and impactful research scholarship. 

Education: PhD, University of Notre Dame

Hometown: Huanggang, China

Xiangyu Guo, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Algorithm design for combinatorial optimization.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am most excited about being able to return to UB and work with many old friends.

Education: PhD, University at Buffalo

Hometown: Ji’an, China.

Asif Imran, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Improving energy consumption and carbon footprint.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: Sharing knowledge with the students and the opportunity to contribute to their success.

Education: PhD, University at Buffalo

Hometown: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Vishnu Lokhande, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Machine learning; vision-language models.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I'm most excited about interacting with and mentoring students, applying machine learning and computer vision techniques across various disciplines, and making impactful research contributions grounded in fundamental optimization and statistics.

Education: PhD, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Hometown: Hyderabad, India

Xi Lu, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Human-computer interaction. 

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I look forward to meeting and collaborating with people from various disciplines who share an interest in HCI and exploring and designing technologies that enhance health and wellness in people's everyday lives! 

Education: PhD, University of California, Irvine

Hometown: Xi’an, China

Naeem Maroof, associate professor of teaching, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Low-power memory and compute circuits.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: UB is a great place to work at and Buffalo is great place to live.

Education: PhD, Hanyang University

Hometown: Abbottabad, Pakistan

Mostafa Mohammed, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Computer science education.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: UB is an R1 university, and it is an honor to be a member of it.

Education: PhD, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Hometown: Asyut, Egypt

Maria Rodriguez, principal research scientist, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Equity optimized algorithmic decision making.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I’m grateful for the opportunity to be part of a team at SEAS.

Education: PhD, University of Washington

Hometown: New York, New York

Qianchuan Ye, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Interactive proof assistants; programming languages.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am most excited about being part of this welcoming community, collaborating with the wonderful researchers here, and sharing the cool stuff in my research fields with the students.

Education: PhD, Purdue University

Hometown: Guangzhou, China

Adedoyin Inaolaji, assistant professor, Department of Electrical Engineering

Research Interests: Optimization of renewable-rich power systems.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am most excited about mentoring and influencing emerging engineers to do groundbreaking research in clean energy.

Education: PhD, Florida International University

Hometown: Lagos, Nigeria

Barnard Onyenucheya, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Electrical Engineering

Research Interests:  Pulsed power; non-thermal plasma.

Education: PhD, University at Buffalo 

Ming Shi, assistant professor, Department of Electrical Engineering

Research Interests: Machine learning theory; network optimization.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am most excited about the outstanding collaboration opportunities to make greater research contributions and the opportunities to support students in building their career paths.

Education: PhD, Purdue University

Hometown: China

Yu (Chelsea) Jin, assistant professor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Research Interests: Analytics for advanced and smart manufacturing.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: A great environment and great people to work with at UB.

Education: PhD, University of Arkansas

Hometown: Zhejiang, China

Aanuoluwapo Ojelade, distinguished research fellow, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Research Interests: Occupational ergonomics and biomechanics.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am thrilled to join a community that fosters collaboration, mutual growth, and innovation.

Education: PhD, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Hometown: Okinni, Nigeria

Soohyun Im, assistant professor, Department of Materials Design and Innovation

Research Interests: Structure-property relationships in materials.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB:  I am most excited about the opportunity to explore materials science from a multidisciplinary point of view, especially in the materials, design and innovation department, and contribute to the development of the next generations.

Education: PhD, Ohio State University

Hometown: Seoul, South Korea

Hui Cao, assistant professor of research, Department of Materials Design and Innovation

Research Interests: Thin film synthesis and characterization.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am most excited about the opportunity to collaborate with leading researchers and passionate students at UB.

Education: PhD, University of Science and Technology of China

Hometown: Yingxian, China

Hyeongyun Cha, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Research Interests: Addressing energy and water challenges.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am most excited about this great opportunity to tackle global energy and water challenges with excellent faculties, staff, and students at UB.

Education: PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Hometown: Mokpo, South Korea

Chaozhe He, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Research Interests: Build trustworthy robot companions.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: Cutting-edge research in AI and robotics, inclusive and collaborative environments, and a group of talented colleagues and students. 

Education: PhD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Hometown: Guangzhou, China

Katharine Hunter, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Research Interests: Thermal and energy sciences; engineering education.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am most excited to be working with engineering undergrads who are eager to learn and want to make an impact on our immediate energy challenges.

Education: PhD, University of Minnesota

Hometown: Rochester, New York

Arnaldo Rodriguez-Gonzalez, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Research Interests: Qualitative dynamical systems, transport phenomena.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am most excited about helping our engineering students become forces for positive, meaningful change in the world.

Education: PhD, Cornell University 

Hometown: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Xin Yong, associate professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Research Interests: Synthetic and biological soft matter.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am most excited about UB’s vibrant research atmosphere, its culture of multidisciplinary collaboration, and the opportunity to work with internationally renowned faculty and talented students.

Education: PhD, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Hometown: Chongqing, China

Yulong Huang, process engineer, Shared Instrumentation Laboratories

Research Interests: Materials science and engineering.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am most excited about a broader engagement with UB faculties, students, researchers, other institutions and industries, and to help people succeed in their scientific careers via guidance and collaborations. 

Education: PhD, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Hometown: JiangXi Province, China

Adithya Lakshmi Narayanan, assistant professor of teaching, Computational and Data-Enabled Sciences

Research Interests: Data for/in social good.

What are you most excited about as you start at UB: I am excited to partake in the construction of a truly world-class data-enabled sciences curriculum, a vital cog in the era that humankind is entering.

Education: PhD, University at Buffalo

Hometown: Chennai, India