Professorships and fellowships

Newest AAAS Fellows

The Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) elected James H. Garrett Jr. and Vijayakumar Bhagavatula to the rank of AAAS Fellow. 

Each year, the Council recognizes individuals whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.”

The AAAS honored James Garrett, dean of the College of Engineering and Thomas Lord Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, for his contributions to the field of computing and civil engineering, especially for his pioneering work on intelligent civil infrastructure and ability to foster an interdisciplinary academic culture. As the College’s dean, he demonstrates an unprecedented commitment to integrating engineering, arts, business, and other disciplines to produce creative and technically strong engineers equipped to pioneer solutions to global challenges. Throughout his research career, he has investigated how sensors and data analytics enhance the adaptability and efficiency of cities and buildings. Garrett aims to give built infrastructure the ability to detect and report problems it is experiencing so that it can be managed in a more proactive and cost-effective manner.  

Vijaykumar Bhagavatula, the U.A. and Helen Whitaker Professor in ECE, was elected by the AAAS for his contributions to the field of pattern recognition, particularly for his creation of the theory and application of correlation filters for object recognition. Bhagavatula and his students develop spatial frequency-domain methods that can correlate live biometric signatures and stored templates when biometric signatures vary in appearance. In addition to his research on pattern recognition, Bhagavatula studies computer vision for autonomous driving, signal processing for two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR), and coding for flash memory systems.

AAAS is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society, with individual members in more than 91 countries. AAAS publishes cutting-edge research in Science, a renowned peer-reviewed journal.

Early career professorships

On February 15, 2017, the College of Engineering awarded two professorships to honor and support Byron Yu and Jeffrey Weldon for their research and academic accomplishments.

Gerard G. Elia Career Development Professorship

ECE/BME Associate Professor Byron Yu received the Gerard G. Elia Career Development Professorship. Yu’s research, which is at the intersection of neuroscience and engineering, seeks to understand how networks of neurons give rise to brain function. Potential outcomes of his work include brain-computer interfaces to assist disabled patients.

This professorship is given in honor of Dr. Gerard Elia (MechE’72, ’73, ’77).  Dr. Elia’s parents, Benjamin and Rose M. Elia, established the Gerard G. Elia Career Development Professorship in Engineering in 1996 in memory of their son, who sadly passed away in 1995. The career devel-opment chair was established to reward the accomplishments of an assistant or associate faculty member in the College of Engineering and to promote the scholar’s future development.

Sathaye Family Foundation Early Career Professorship

ECE Associate Professor Jeffrey Weldon re-ceived the Sathaye Family Foundation Early Career Professorship. Weldon’s research focuses on novel nanoscale device and circuit design for next-generation integrated circuits. His doctoral research in the area of RF CMOS integrated circuits has been widely adopted by industry and is frequently cited in journals and conferences. His postdoctoral research on the carbon nanotube radio was extensively covered by the popular and scientific press, including Scientific American.

Shirish and Archana Sathaye, personally and through the Sathaye Family Foundation, established the endowed professorship to support a non-tenured, junior faculty member in the Department of ECE.

Archana and Shirish Sathaye are en-gaged and committed alumni. Archana’s (ECE ’93) career has spanned industry, academia, and non-profits. In addition to serving as a member of the ECE Alumni Council, she is the President of the Sathaye Family Foundation, a Member of the Board of Directors of The Tech Museum of Innovation, and serves on the board of multiple non-profits. Shirish (ECE’93), who serves as a member of the College of Engineering Dean’s Advocacy Council and the ECE Alumni Council, joined Khosla Ventures as a General Partner after a decade of investment experience at Matrix Partners, and a long career at several technology companies. His current areas of investment focus are wireless and wireline networking, clean tech, and cloud-based software, storage, and systems.

Dean’s 2017 Early Career Fellows

The 2017 Dean’s Early Career Fellowships have been awarded to four professors for groundbreaking work in their fields. The fellowships are given to untenured faculty who are nominated by their department heads and selected by the College of Engineering’s Review Committee. These awards will provide up to three years of funding to advance the recipients’ work.

Steven Chase

Assistant Professor in BME and the Center for Neural Basis of Cognition

Steven Chase has research interests in information representation in neural systems, brain-computer interfaces, neural signal processing, and learning, adaptation, and motor control. In 2016, Chase was awarded the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award to discover the link between neural reorganization and skill learning.

Meagan Mauter

Assistant Professor in EPP and CEE

Meagan Mauter runs the Water and Energy Efficiency for the Environment (WE3) Lab. Her research explores all aspects of water technology: materials development, technology assessment, water usage, and water policy. She has lectured extensively and received many awards in her areas of specialization.

Deanna Matthews

Assistant Teaching Professor and Associate Department Head for Undergraduate Affairs in EPP 

Deanna Matthews is actively searching, exploring, and implementing mechanisms to improve the EPP student experience. As advisor and administrator for the undergraduate program, she has led the effort to evaluate and redesign the EPP double-major curriculum.

Albert Presto

Assistant Research Professor in MechE

Albert Presto researches and implements new methods to better understand air pollution in urban environments. He developed the “Breathemobile,” a traveling laboratory designed to map and monitor air quality in the Pittsburgh region and to increase public awareness of the harmful impacts of air pollution.