Jonsson School Welcomes New Faculty
Founded 50 years ago, The University of Texas at Dallas is a rapidly growing, top tier research institution. From 2007 to 2017, it was the second fastest growing public doctoral university in the country, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. In 2019, Forbes named UT Dallas the number one best value public university in Texas, particularly for its academic quality, affordability, timely graduations and alumni earnings. The Jonsson School is the third ranked public engineering school in Texas according to U.S. News and World Report, following only The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University.
To keep pace with increased demand, the school has hired eight new tenure-track professors to continue building the school’s research programs in emerging areas including additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence and data science.
“Like our new faculty joining the Jonsson School, I was also drawn to the school’s rapid growth as well as the considerable investment the broader community has made in engineering and computer science,” Adams said. “The Jonsson School will work over the next few years to build out programs, enrich the student experience and continue expanding our research to achieve the ambitious goals of the University and our technology-driven society.”
New faculty members include Dr. Feng Chen, Dr. Kangkook Jee and Dr. Jessica Ouyang in computer science; Dr. Wei Li, Dr. Yaqing Jin and Dr. Armin Zare in mechanical engineering; and Dr. Kanad Basu in electrical and computer engineering.
Dr. Stephanie G. Adams, dean of the Jonsson School, holder of the Lars Magnus Ericsson Chair and professor of systems engineering, started on Aug. 1 and aims to expand the school’s research and program offerings while improving diversity, inclusion and interdisciplinary collaboration. Adams, who serves as president of the American Society for Engineering Education, is a pioneer in her field for being among the first in the world to study teams in engineering education.
The Jonsson School recently opened its Engineering and Computer Science West building to house the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Additionally, the National Science Foundation recently funded scholarships for Jonsson School students pursuing advanced degrees in cybersecurity through 2024, as well as a program designed to support minority post-baccalaureate students who are pursuing graduate degrees in STEM fields.
Feng Chen
Dr. Feng Chen
associate professor of computer science
Previously: assistant professor, University at Albany – State University of New York
Research interests: large-scale data mining, graph mining, machine learning
Recent accomplishments: Chen has published numerous research papers in premier computer science conferences. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Defense, and he has received the NSF CAREER award.
“I am most excited by UT Dallas’ great research facilities and the highly ranked Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. I hope to build a good research career and develop collaborations within and across departments.”
Kanad Basu
Dr. Kanad Basu
assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering
Previously: assistant research professor, New York University
Research interests: hardware security, artificial intelligence hardware, edge computing
Recent accomplishments: Basu received a research grant from SRC Computer Aided Design and Test for three years on functional safety.
“I am most excited by UT Dallas’ great research facilities and the highly ranked Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. I hope to build a good research career and develop collaborations within and across departments.”
Kangkook Jee
Dr. Kangkook Jee
assistant professor of computer science
Previously: Researcher, NEC Laboratories America Inc.
Research interests: systems security, operating systems, information flow tracking, program analysis, binary analysis and instrumentation, malware analysis
Recent accomplishments: Jee has published research in top cybersecurity conferences such as the Computer and Communications Security Conference and the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium. Additionally, he is a holder of 13 patents.
“I am excited about meeting students and interacting with them. I want to do the wonderful research necessary to make the world safer and more secure.”
Jessica Ouyang
Dr. Jessica Ouyang
assistant professor of computer science
Previously: PhD candidate, Columbia University
Research interests: natural language processing, automatic summarization and text generation
Recent accomplishments: Ouyang’s doctoral research was published in premier natural language processing conferences such as the Association for Computational Linguistics.
“I am joining a large and collegial department with a very strong research group in my area. I plan to establish an active lab and research program to push the boundaries of automated text generation.”
Yaqing Jin
Dr. Yaqing Jin
assistant professor of mechanical engineering
Previously: PhD candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research interests: fluid mechanics, renewable energy, fluid-structure interactions, turbulent flow, energy-efficient locomotion
Recent accomplishments: Jin received the 2018 Fluids Travel Award from the journal Fluids.
“The very friendly environment together with the world’s leading research facilities and teams attracted me to the Jonsson School. I will establish a strong team and contribute new insights for complex fluid-structure interaction problems and cultivate more students interested in this area.”
Armin Zare
Dr. Armin Zare
assistant professor of mechanical engineering
Previously: postdoctoral research associate, University of Southern California
Research interests: modeling, dynamics and control of large-scale and distributed systems; and optimization, dynamics and control of complex fluid flows
Recent accomplishments: Zare earned a doctoral dissertation fellowship at the University of Minnesota and was a finalist for the Best Student Paper Award at the 2014 American Control Conference.
“I have an opportunity to build my career in the vibrant environment of a top-tier research institute that is constantly improving and shows the potential for significant growth. The ultimate goal of my work is to influence the energy and transportation industry to benefit our day-to-day lives.”
Wei Li
Dr. Wei Li
assistant professor of mechanical engineering
Previously: postdoctoral researcher, University of California, Davis
Research interests: additive manufacturing, 3D printing, onsite repair and manufacturing, fabrication and characterization of customized alloy with multi-materials
Recent accomplishments: Li published 22 journal papers including eleven journals as first author, one U.S. patent app as first inventor and one NASA technology transfer as first inventor.
“UT Dallas has fast development, a beautiful campus and strong engineering research. I am working on enriching fields in engineering, especially in additive manufacturing and 3D printing. I am creating a research lab focused in these fields and will also contribute by producing advanced manufacturing curriculum.”