Charlotte Research is on the Rise

December 6, 2024

UNC Charlotte’s William States Lee College of Engineering welcomes new faculty to help support growing research activity and academic enrollment (Fall 2024 was Charlotte’s largest enrollment ever for first-year engineering students).

These new faculty bring expertise in the expanding fields of advanced manufacturing, connected vehicles, computer architecture, applied optics, materials science, quantum mechanical modeling, construction engineering, environmental engineering focusing on natural hazards and more.

The new faculty are (as shown above, left to right):

• Mohammad Hokmabadi, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Formerly: Scientist, nLIGHT, Inc.; Lithography Module Engineer, Intel Corp.
• Soumitra Joy, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Formerly: Device Engineer, Intel Corp.
• Ozgur Keles, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science
  • Formerly Associate Professor, San Jose State University
• Chau Le, Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Technology and Construction Management 
  • Formerly: Assistant Professor, North Dakota State University
• Ryan Rasanen, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Formerly: Geotechnical Engineer, Washington State Dept of Transportation
• Roger Tipton, Research Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science
  • Formerly and currently Research Fellow, Newell Brands
• Taner Tunc, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science
  • Formerly: Associate Professor, Sabanci University
• Miao Wang, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Formerly: Assistant Professor, Miami University
• Ke Zeng, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Formerly: Postdoctoral Researcher, Stanford University

Earning Awards for Innovation

W.S. Lee College of Engineering faculty increasingly lead critical investigations, including faculty early in their careers. Current NSF early career awards include:

NSF CAREER awards:  Ahmed Arafa, Youxing Chen, Amir Ghasemi, Ozgur Keles, In-Hong Yang and Qiang Zhu

NSF Engineering Research Initiation awards: Jaime Berez, Erina Joyee, Lin Ma, Artur Wolek, Ran Zhang

The NSF also invited UNC Charlotte engineering faculty to submit a full proposal to the Engines program. As one of only 71 teams nationwide to be invited, UNC Charlotte’s CLEANcarolinas proposes to address advanced energy and industrial efficiency technologies, including power systems and conversion, grid technologies, and electro-mechanical technologies.

Preparing for R1: UNC Charlotte is on the Rise

• 56 spot increase over the past two years (US News Top Public Universities)
• A top 100 public university (US News Best Colleges rankings)
• Ranked as one of the Most Innovative Schools for its focus on research (US News Best Colleges Rankings)
• Among NSF’s HERD fastest-growing research universities in the nation, with engineering ranking in the top 30% (NSF HERD)

This increased recognition, in addition to record enrollment, graduation and retention rates, position the university to earn the nation’s highest research designation, Carnegie R1, in 2025.