Faculty

Guihua Yu, associate professor of materials science and mechanical engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, is the recipient of the 2021 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Engineering from TAMEST (The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas). He was chosen for his revolutionary use of nanotechnology and conductive polymer-hydrogels to provide solutions to two of society’s biggest challenges: water sustainability and energy storage.

What makes you an engineer? Your engineering identity plays a vital role in your future work and studies. And it’s probably influenced by your gender. We all carry many identities: father, son, daughter, sister, niece, nurse, friend, and more. Carolyn Seepersad is many of those things, including an associate professor of mechanical engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.

Our newest Cockrell School of Engineering faculty members span a wide range of engineering expertise — from machine learning to health robotics to infrastructure and agricultural systems. Learn more about their research areas:

Buildings represent the backbone of the world’s cities, often standing for decades, and sometimes even centuries. However, they are far from static, changing and evolving over time the same way cities do. People and businesses move in and move out. Buildings get new paint jobs, remodels, seismic upgrades, new amenities and so many other changes during their lifetimes.

ClearCam Inc., a medical device spinout company founded by Cockrell School of Engineering associate professor Chris Rylander based on research from his lab, recently announced the closing of $2.6 million in seed round funding.

Founded by Mohit Tiwari, associate professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Symmetry Systems launched this month one year after raising $3 million in seed funding. The company's flagship solution, DataGuard, helps small teams of security engineers to protect data across a large organization.

Students, faculty, staff and leadership from academic institutions across the U.S., including The University of Texas at Austin, came together this month in a virtual event to share experiences and barriers facing Black scholars in STEM fields. Hosted by the University of Washington, “Experiences of Black STEM in the Ivory: A Call to Disruptive Action” inspired and challenged participants to take action to address racial inequalities in STEM.

Professor Emeritus Byron Tapley was selected to receive the 2020 John Leland Atwood award presented jointly by the American Society of Engineering Education Aerospace Division and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Established in 1985, the award is given annually to honor an outstanding educator in the field of aerospace engineering. 

Jean Anne Incorvia literally works at the interface between software and hardware. She is a physicist, materials scientist and electrical engineer simultaneously. An assistant professor in the Cockrell School’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, her key interests lie in developing the computer systems of the future – computers powered and operated through nanotechnology, quantum mechanics and, most recently, the emerging field of neuromorphic computing.

Chandra Bhat, professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, has been elected president of the Council of University Transportation Centers. The council established in 1979 by the major transportation research centers and institutes in the U.S. to provide a forum for educators and researchers to interact with government and industry. Bhat will serve as President for one year, until June 2021.

The Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has named distinguished researcher and professor Delia Milliron as the new chair of the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering. She will begin her appointment on January 16, 2021, succeeding the department’s current chair, Thomas Truskett.

Three assistant professors from the Cockrell School of Engineering have been selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to receive Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards. The awards are the NSF’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty and provide up to five years of funding to junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of their organizations’ missions.

Every year, the Alcalde flips the script and gives alumni the chance to give their favorite professors an A+. Through nominations from former students, the Texas Ten honors professors who have made a difference in the lives of Longhorns. From the musician who instills the power of music in young children to the engineer who loves to problem solve and the mathematician who is determined to see his students succeed, there is no doubt the 2020 class of the Texas Ten is one deserving bunch.

With quarantine mandates and social distancing restrictions changing how we live and work, we face a new, unforeseen challenge: How do we educate our children (and entertain ourselves) when they can’t physically attend school? For years, mechanical engineering professor Michael Webber has been producing widely accessible educational content focused on his area of expertise — energy. He has developed TV shows and online courses that anyone can view with the sole purpose of teaching people about energy.

The Cockrell School of Engineering has named distinguished professor and computational engineer Clint Dawson as the new chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. He will begin his appointment on Sept. 1, 2020, succeeding the department’s current chair, Noel Clemens.

Two faculty members from The University of Texas at Austin, one from the Cockrell School of Engineering and one from the College of Natural Sciences, have received 2020 Sloan Research Fellowships, which honor outstanding early-career scientists in eight fields.

The National Academy of Engineering has elected Robert B. Gilbert, professor and chair of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas of Austin, as a new member of the prestigious academy.

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) will bestow University of Texas at Austin professor C. Grant Willson with the Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering —  widely regarded as the highest honor in the profession — for his pioneering work enabling the extreme miniaturization of microelectronic devices.

Diana Marculescu, the new chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering, has been named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), an honor awarded to less than 1% of ACM’s membership, for her contributions to the design and optimization of energy-aware computing systems.

Nicholas Peppas, professor of biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, pediatrics, surgery and pharmacy at The University of Texas at Austin and an expert in biomaterials and drug delivery systems, has been awarded the Sigma Xi Monie A. Ferst Award sponsored by the Georgia Institute of Technology Sigma Xi Chapter.