Dean’s Early Career Fellows

Four distinguished young faculty have been awarded the 2017 Dean’s Early Career Fellowships for groundbreaking work in their fields. This year’s awardees are Albert Presto (MechE), Deanna Matthews (EPP), Steven Chase (BME), and Meagan Mauter (EPP). These young faculty members have been granted these fellowships to provide funding to further their outstanding research.

The Dean’s Early Career Fellowships are awarded to untenured faculty members who have been nominated by their department heads and then selected to receive the fellowship after review and discussion of the nomination package by the College of Engineering's Review Committee.

Presto, assistant research professor of mechanical engineering, 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.

Matthews, assistant teaching professor and associate department head for undergraduate affairs in engineering and public policy, 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.

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

Mauter, assistant professor in engineering and public policy and civil and environmental engineering, 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.