Author: Joshua Stewart

Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy

Associate Chair for Global Engineering Leadership and Entrepreneurship
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research
Studies systems problems on the integrated built, natural, social and information environments to understand how we can make better decisions on built systems to promote resilient, smart and sustainable development. Her research currently focuses on the development and application of systems and sustainability engineering methods to promote sustainable development.

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Raheem Beyah

Dean and Southern Company Chair
College of Engineering

Research
Works at the intersection of the networking and security fields. His lab group develops algorithms that enable a more secure network infrastructure, with computer systems that are more accountable and less vulnerable to attacks. Through experimentation, simulation, and theoretical analysis, his group provides solutions to current network security problems and to long-range challenges as current networks and threats evolve.

Proudest Accomplishment
“My proudest accomplishment is seeing students — undergraduate and graduate — and faculty members thrive that I’ve mentored.”

Fun Fact
“I love to cook!”

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Edward Botchwey

Professor
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research
Takes a multidisciplinary approach for improvement of tissue engineering therapies through study of microvascular remodeling, inflammation resolution, and host stem cells. His lab’s goal is development of effective new strategies to repair, replace, preserve, or enhance tissue or organ function.

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Joe Bozeman

Assistant Professor
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research
An industrial ecologist committed to fostering equitable climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. His current work focuses on the sociodemographic impacts of the food-energy-water nexus, equity applications in energy and environmental systems, and urban carbon management strategies.

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Baratunde Cola

Professor
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Research
Focuses on understanding and designing thermal transport and energy conversion in nanostructures and devices — particularly those based on carbon nanotubes or polymers. His group develops tools to characterize thermal transport across several orders of scale for this purpose. His research interests also include scalable fabrication of organic and organic-inorganic hybrid nanostructures for novel technological use.

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Kelly Cross

Assistant Professor
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research
Focuses on two broad yet related areas: 1) broadening participation and improving the inclusion of students of color within engineering; and 2) improving collaboration and teamwork for students and faculty within projects designed to mimic professional engineering work. She studies student and faculty experiences using all three methodologies common in engineering education research (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods) for the purpose of enhancing the experience of marginalized groups in engineering.

Proudest Accomplishment
“Publishing my book, Queering STEM Culture in US Higher Education: Navigating Experiences of Exclusion in the Academy.”

Fun Fact
“I am a preacher’s kid (PK), and I think all good teachers preach. Also, learning about culture can enhance your life; I studied Japanese karate, and I study Egyptology or Kemetic philosophy.”

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Frank Hammond

Assistant Professor
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research
Focuses on the design and control of adaptive robotic manipulation (ARM) systems. This class of devices exemplified by kinematic structures, actuation topologies, and sensing and control strategies that make them particularly well-suited to operating in unstructured, dynamic environments — specifically those involving cooperative interactions with humans.

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Tequila Harris

Associate Professor
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Research
Focuses on exploring the connectivity between the functionality of nano- to macro- level films, components, and systems based on their manufacture or design and their life expectancy, thereby elucidating mechanisms by which performance or durability can be predicted. She is interested in using both simulations and experimentation to better understand this connectivity.

Proudest Accomplishment
“In 2018, the International Society of Coating Science and Technology honored me with the L. E. Scriven Young Investigator Award for the innovative work conducted in my group. Specifically, our contributions towards the advancement of slot die coating with the development of two novel slot die coater embodiments, where one is digital and the other allows for co-depositing two or more fluids across a plane with fine features. Being acknowledged for this trailblazing work within an international society has been a highlight for my group.”

Fun Fact
“I was born and raised in a rural town in central Arkansas on a small farm. While we had all sorts of animals, including the classics (dogs and cats), my first pet was a cow.”

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Karmella Haynes

Assistant Professor
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

Aims to identify how the intrinsic properties of chromatin, the DNA-protein structure that packages eukaryotic genes, can be used to control cell development in tissues. Her lab investigates and designs chromatin-based systems for controlling gene expression in cancer and other cells that are relevant to human health.

Proudest Accomplishment
“I am most proud when my trainees do well, especially when they are from a group that is traditionally marginalized in STEM. My Ph.D. student Kierra Franklin, an African American female scientist, had her very first paper published in Trends in Biochemical Sciences (Cell Press) in 2022.”

Fun Fact
“I paint acrylic on canvas as a hobby. I have been painting since I was 11 years old.”

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Kai James

Associate Professor
Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering

Research
Interests are in the areas of computational mechanics and multidisciplinary design optimization, with a particular focus on problems involving complex, nonlinear structures and mechanisms. Some of his major research projects include aerostructural optimization of electric aircraft wings, design synthesis of self-actuating morphable structures containing active materials, and generative adversarial neural networks for design automation.

Proudest Accomplishment
“Winning the NSF CAREER award in 2018 for my research proposal on automated computational design of multi-body mechanisms.”

Fun Fact
“I’m a big fan of chess and I actually won my high school’s chess tournament, but I haven’t played consistently since leaving high school.”

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Fabian Monrose

Professor, Julian T. Hightower Chair in Cybersecurity
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research
Interests span the fields of networking and security and include such diverse topics as traffic classification, computer forensics, user authentication, and privacy.

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Elliott Moore

Associate Professor, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Affairs
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research
Uses digital speech processing theory and analysis in the classification of human vocal patterns for determining speaker demographics (i.e., dialect, language, etc.), speaker characteristics (i.e., gender, dimensions, etc.), and speaker state (i.e., emotion, stress, etc.).

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Manu Platt

Professor, Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research
Fuses engineering, cell biology, and physiology in a diverse, inclusive team to understand how cells sense, respond, and remodel their immediate mechanical and biochemical environments for repair and regeneration in health and disease. His lab focuses on tissue remodeling, HIV, cardiovascular disease, sickle cell disease, strokes, and predictive medicine.

Proudest Accomplishment
“Being able to take my entire lab to a conference in Cape Town, South Africa, and it was their first time on the African continent.”

Fun Fact
“I’m the second oldest of six brothers, and my name actually means ‘second born son.'”

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Stephen Ruffin

Professor
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professional Education
Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering

Research
Specializes in high temperature gas dynamics, compressible flow aerodynamics, and airframe propulsion integration. He is developing novel approaches which allow for Navier-Stokes simulations using a purely Cartesian grid solver. His aerothermodynamics research and technology (ART) laboratory applied these techniques to applications as diverse as hypersonic planetary entry vehicles and flow physics, rotorcraft airframe interaction flows, transonic and supersonic missiles, and unsteady store separation problems.

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Oluwaseun Sangodoyin

Assistant Professor, Sutterfield Family Early Career Professor
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research
Develops biosensors for remote sensing of vital signs and biotelemetry for gastrointestinal devices and neural implants. His lab also studies device-to-device wireless communications systems and radar systems for localization and tracking.

Fun Fact
Seun is an avid tennis player. He is an art enthusiast, enjoys Thai food, and is “secretly” a semiotician.

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Mitchell Walker

John Young Chair, Aerospace Engineering
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
College of Engineering

Research
Interests lie in electric propulsion, plasma physics, and hypersonic aerodynamics/plasma interaction. His current research activities involve both theoretical and experimental work in advanced spacecraft propulsion systems, diagnostics (including THz time-domain spectroscopy and Thomson scattering), plasma physics, helicon plasma sources, magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters, and pulsed inductive thrusters.

Proudest Accomplishment
“Many of the graduates from my research team lead significant technical efforts within their organizations. I am proud of my students.”

Fun Fact
“I am a Formula 1 racing fan.”

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Corey Wilson

Professor
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Research
Focuses on establishing an integrated experimental and computational framework to translate our understanding of the fundamental principles of biophysics and biochemistry (i.e., the physicochemical properties that confer function) into useful processes, devices, therapies, and diagnostics that will benefit society.

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