Jonsson School Introduces New Strategic Leaders, Faculty in 2024-25
The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas is pleased to announce 14 new tenure system and instructional faculty who have joined in 2024. With expertise ranging from natural language processing to energy conversion and neurotechnology, the new faculty are poised to continue building the Jonsson School’s six departments and five research thrusts with six cross-cutting technologies.
Four new faculty leaders will also help to advance the Jonsson School’s strategic priorities and expand course offerings, particularly in key areas for undergraduates such as systems engineering. Dr. Nandika D’Souza, known for increasing student success and spearheading collaborative initiatives, joins the Jonsson School this year as its associate dean of strategic initiatives. Other new faculty leaders include Dr. Edward White, professor and head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Benjamin Porter, associate professor of instruction in bioengineering, who was named assistant dean for effective teaching in the spring of 2024. Dr. Yvette Pearson is also now associate dean for effectiveness and accountability in the Jonsson School, in addition to associate dean for academic affairs and strategic initiatives in the University’s School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
“As we continue to build the Jonsson School as a student-centered institution with an aggressive expansion of our research portfolio, I am pleased to welcome Dr. D’Souza and Dr. White who will provide new ideas and energy toward refining and achieving our strategic goals,” said Dr. Stephanie G. Adams, dean of the Jonsson School, professor of systems engineering and holder of the Lars Magnus Ericsson Chair at UT Dallas. “I am also pleased that Dr. Porter, an instructional faculty member, will provide important insight and direction as we collectively seek to improve our craft of teaching our students. We look to their creative leadership and the energy from our new faculty members to help inspire our students and community”.
New Faculty Members 2024
Dr. Nandika D’Souza
Dr. Nandika D’Souza
Professor of mechanical engineering and associate dean of strategic initiatives
Education: PhD in mechanical engineering, Texas A&M University; MS in mechanical engineering, Auburn University; BE in polymer engineering, Savitribai Phule Pune University, India
Previous position: Associate dean for academic and student affairs, College of Engineering, University of North Texas
Research areas: Tunable thermal conductivity, dielectric strength biobased molding compounds, die attach adhesives, biobased foams, high-electric insulation polymers, bioinspired coatings
❝I see the rewards of bridging research and education reflected in the grants for workforce development. This is an exciting time to create organizational frameworks to serve students and faculty at UTD.❞
Dr. Ed White
Dr. Ed White
Professor and head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering
Education: PhD in aerospace engineering, Arizona State University; BS in aerospace engineering and MS in mechanical engineering, Case Western Reserve University
Previous position: Associate department head and professor of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University
Research areas: Fundamental and applied aerodynamics, wind tunnel techniques, facility development
❝The department here is growing very rapidly, and there’s a lot of potential to achieve great things. Creating an environment where each individual can do their best work is my job.❞
Dr. Xu Feng
Dr. Xu Feng
Assistant professor of bioengineering
Education: PhD in biomedical engineering, The University of Texas at Austin; ME in optical engineering, Tsinghua University, China; BS in optical information, Wuhan University, China
Previous position: Postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital
Research areas: Biomedical optical imaging, clinical translation
❝My goal is to motivate students to develop novel optical imaging tools for safe, painless and accurate disease diagnosis while enhancing clinical collaboration.❞
Dr. Eric Meyers
Dr. Eric Meyers
Assistant professor of bioengineering
Education: PhD in biomedical engineering, MS and BS in electrical engineering, UT Dallas
Previous position: Principal biomedical engineer in medical device solutions at Battelle Memorial Institute
Research areas: Neurorehabilitation, neuromodulation to support neuroplasticity, closed-loop neurotechnology, biomarker discovery
❝I aim to develop next-generation neurotechnologies that improve patient outcomes and inspire students to innovate at the intersection of engineering and neuroscience.❞
Dr. Rafiul Shiha
Dr. Rafiul Shihab
Assistant professor of instruction in bioengineering
Education: PhD in bioengineering from University of Nevada, Reno; BS in aeronautical engineering from the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST, Bangladesh)
Previous position: Postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Texas at Arlington
Teaching and Research areas: Biomaterial characterization, traumatic brain injury, photobiomodulation
❝I aim to inspire students through enlightening moments in teaching, while advancing my research on nanomaterial characterization and traumatic brain injury repair.❞
Dr. Sruthi Chappadi
Dr. Sruthi Chappidi
Assistant professor of instruction in computer science
Education: PhD and MS in software engineering at UT Dallas; BS in biology at UT Dallas
Previous position: Computational biologist, Department of Immunology, UT Southwestern Medical Center
Teaching and research areas: Software engineering, bioinformatics, computational biology, data visualization
❝I aim to inspire students to understand engineering concepts, solve real-world problems, spark curiosity through hands-on experiences and to equip them for successful engineering careers.❞
Dr. Zhiyu Chen
Dr. Zhiyu “Zoey” Chen
Assistant professor of computer science
Education: PhD in computer science, University of California, Santa Barbara
Previous position: Postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon University
Research area: Natural language processing
❝My goal is to lead groundbreaking natural language processing research and guide students to pursue excellence in artificial intelligence research.❞
Dr. Andrew Nemec
Dr. Andrew Nemec
Assistant professor of computer science
Education: PhD and BS in computer engineering, BA in mathematics, Texas A&M University
Previous position: Postdoctoral associate at Duke University
Research areas: Quantum computing, error correction, fault tolerance, information theory
❝I plan to establish a research program that investigates fundamental questions in information theory and computation, helping students prepare for emerging computing technologies.❞
Dr. Aditya Shrivastava
Dr. Aditya Srivastava
Assistant professor of instruction in computer science
Education: MS in computer science, University of Kentucky; BS in electrical engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), India
Previous position: Chief technology officer at various software companies
Research areas: AI, programing languages, highly scalable systems
❝My goal is to prepare students for the industry experience.❞
Dr. Haifa Abdulaiha
Dr. Haifa Abdulaiha
Assistant professor of instruction in electrical and computer engineering
Education: PhD in computer engineering from West Virginia University; MSc in web technology from University of Southampton, United Kingdom; BSc in computer engineering from University of Tripoli, Libya
Previous position: Assistant teaching professor at Penn State
Teaching and research areas: FG transistor, analog integrated circuit design
❝I am excited to join UT Dallas and cannot wait to teach students how to grow as engineers and be creative in solving real-world problems in their own way.❞
Dr. Xingang Jin
Dr. Xinfang Jin
Associate professor of mechanical engineering
Education: PhD in mechanical engineering, University of South Carolina; MS in refrigeration and cryogenic engineering and BS in thermal and dynamic engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing
Previous position: Assistant professor of mechanical engineering at University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Research areas: Thermal fluids, transport phenomena and energy storage and conversion
❝My goal is to lead pioneering research in electrochemical systems, inspiring students and propelling the Jonsson School to global leadership in clean energy innovation.❞
Dr. Zhen Liu
Dr. Zhen Liu
Assistant professor of mechanical engineering
Education: PhD in mechanical engineering, Rice University; MS and BS in energy and power engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China
Previous position: PhD student and research assistant, Rice University
Research areas: Interfacial phenomena, surface engineering, heat transfer, energy and fluids, absorption and desorption
❝I look forward to working with the UT Dallas community to engineering water-food-energy sustainability at the intersection of fluid mechanics, surface engineering and heat transfer.❞
Dr. Zeijang Wang
Dr. Zeijang Wang
Assistant professor of mechanical engineering
Education: PhD in mechanical engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
Previous position: Research and development staff, National Transportation Research Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Research areas: Automated vehicles, intelligent transportation systems, dynamics and control
❝My career goal at UTD is to advance next-generation mobility systems, while also cultivating a diverse and inclusive workforce.❞
Dr. Rafik Abdou
Dr. Rafik Abdou
Assistant professor of materials science
and engineering
Education: PhD in materials science, University of Lorraine, France; MS in physics and materials science, Aix-Marseille University, France; BS in physics, Mohamed I University, Morocco
Previous position: Senior research scientist at CBN Nano Technologies, Ontario, Canada
Research areas: Interface and surface science, low-dimensional materials, thin films technology, device integration and reliability
❝I plan to develop and implement surface engineering at the nanoscale for next-generation devices, equipping students with the skills and training to excel in emerging technologies.❞