Faculty Highlights: Spring 2022

Bryan Beckingham
Bryan Beckingham, associate professor of chemical engineering, was named to the “Class of 2021 Influential Researchers – The Americas” list by Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.
David Bevly
David Bevly, the Bill and Lana McNair Distinguished Professor of mechanical engineering, was awarded a $125,000 grant from Integrated Solutions for Systems (IS4S) and the U.S. Department of Transportation to investigate GPS Abnormalities in Connected and Automated Vehicles.
Benjamin Bowers
Benjamin Bowers, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, is one of three academics invited to join a National Asphalt Pavement Association task force aimed at achieving zero net carbon emissions by 2050.
Peter He
Peter He, associate professor of chemical engineering, is the principal investigator on a $294,008 grant from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Addairs titled “A Novel Biotechnology That Converts Agricultural and Municipal Waste into Bioplastics.”
Robert Jackson
Robert Jackson, the Albert Smith Jr. Professor of mechanical engineering, served as chair of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Annual Meeting conference in May 2022.
Masoud Mahjouri-Samani
Masoud Mahjouri-Samani, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, was named the chair of the Additive Manufacturing of Electronics symposium at the International Conference on Additive Manufacturing, became the chair for Nanoscale and Quantum Materials conference at Photonics West and was also elected the secretary of the User Executive Committee for the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Shiwen Mao
Shiwen Mao, the Earle C. Williams Eminent Scholar and professor of electrical and computer engineering, delivered a keynote speech at The 7th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Disaster Management (ICT-DM 2021), Hangzhou, China, Dec. 2021, and a keynote speech at The 2021 IEEE International Conference on RFID Technology and Applications (IEEE RFID-TA 2021), Delhi, India, Oct. 2021. He and his students also won the runner-up of the Best Paper Award at IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC’22), Virtual Conference, Jan. 2022, the 2021 Best Paper Award of Elsevier/KeAi Digital Communications and Networks Journal, the Outstanding Associate Editor Award of Elsevier/KeAi Digital Communications and Networks Journal, and the 2021 IEEE Internet of Things Journal Best Paper Award.
Scott Martin
Scott Martin, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, was awarded more than $100,000 from Torch Tech and IS4S to study navigation methods using signals of opportunity.
Jack Montgomery
Jack Montgomery, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, became a licensed professional engineer in the state of Alabama. Montgomery was also elected to the board of directors for the United States Universities Council on Geotechnical Education and Research.
Mark Schall
Mark Schall, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering, was named an editor of the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics for a three-year term.
Anton Schindler
Anton Schindler, the Mountain Spirit Professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Highway Research Center, was appointed to serve a three-year term as chair of the Transportation Research Board Standing Committee AKM50, Advanced Concrete Materials and Characterization starting April 2022.
Alice Smith
Alice Smith, the Joe W. Forehand/Accenture Distinguished Professor in industrial and systems engineering, was named editor for Surveys of Computers & Operations Research. She also delivered several virtual keynote addresses: International Conference on Cognitive & Intelligent Computing (December 2021); Future LOG Sustainable Logistics of the Future (November 2021); Escuela de Verano en Inteligencia Computacional (November 2021); and Latin American Congress on Computational Intelligence (November 2021).
Hareesh Tippur
Hareesh Tippur, McWane Endowed Chair Professor of mechanical engineering, has been awarded a three-year $319,000 research grant on the topic of “mechanics of dynamic fracture and damage evolution in glasses and ceramics.”
Jose Vasconcelos
Jose Vasconcelos, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been recognized with the 2022 Outstanding Associate Editor Award by the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute. Vasconcelos serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, one of the world-leading publications in civil engineering hydraulics.
Aleksandr Vinel
Aleksandr Vinel, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering, has been appointed as area editor for Computers and Operations Research, a leading academic journal in the area of industrial engineering.
Fan Yin
Fan Yin, an assistant director at the National Center for Asphalt Technology, received a $240,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation for a project titled “Determining the Effect on Asphalt Mixture Performance by Increasing New Asphalt Binder Content Due to Inactive RAP Binder in the Mixture.” Yin has also been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation for a project titled “Validation of Loose Mix Aging Procedures for Cracking Resistance Evaluation in Balanced Mix Design.”
Shiqiang (Nick) Zou
Shiqiang (Nick) Zou, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, is the principal investigator on a subcontract from the Department of Energy – National Alliance for Water Innovation. The total three-year project, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is $2.5 million with $533,000 awarded to Auburn University.

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