College of Engineering welcomes 13 new faculty for 2018-19

The College of Engineering has added 13 new faculty for 2018-19, increasing total faculty hires to 43 over the past three years.

Among the new faculty are Robert Wilhelm, the university’s new vice chancellor for research and economic development, and two-time Olympic medalist and former Husker football player Curtis Tomasevicz.

The new faculty will be working on the college's three campuses: City and East campuses in Lincoln and Scott Campus in Omaha. They will serve a college that has experienced overall enrollment grow by 25 percent in the past 12 years.

Here are the faculty who have joined the College of Engineering and a look at their research interests and backgrounds (New Faculty Handout PDF)

Geng Bai, research assistant professor, Biological Systems Engineering: Bai’s experience and research interests have focused on soil-plant-environment monitoring, center-pivot irrigation, pesticide spraying and high-throughput plant phenotyping.

Wei Bao, assistant professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering: Bao has worked in nanoscale spectroscopic investigations and does research focusing on polaritonics lasing devices.

Philip Barutha, assistant professor, The Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Barutha has 12 years’ experience in project management and engineering as a project manager for Mortenson Construction’s Renewable Energy Group. His areas of interest include alternative project delivery, renewable and sustainable energy, and transportation asset management.

Hau Chan, assistant professor, Computer Science and Engineering: Chan’s research includes computational game theory, mechanism design, data/graph mining and machine learning.

Leimin Deng, research assistant professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering: Deng’s research includes laser extreme manufacturing technology and equipment, laser micro- and nanomachining, optical system design and 3D metal printing.

Heidi Diefes-Dux, professor, Biological Systems Engineering: Diefes-Dux expertise focuses on engineering education (specifically on development, implementation and assessment of engineering activities in undergraduate settings), translating current technical research outputs to K-16 classroom settings, and learning objective-based assessment strategies.

Kelli Herstein, assistant professor of practice, The Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: A former postdoctoral researcher in The Durham School, Herstein works within occupational safety and health, occupational ergonomics and human fatigue and performance.

Iason Konstantzos, assistant professor, The Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Konstantzos’s research includes human comfort in built environments, building systems and controls, and lighting and daylighting. 

Eric Markvicka, assistant professor, Mechanical and Materials Engineering: A former researcher at Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center and Honeybee Robotics, Markvicka’s areas of interest include transforming how materials interact with the human body and the environment.

Keegan Moore, assistant professor, Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Moore’s research interests include nonlinear dynamics, theoretical and experimental vibrations, system identification, non-reciprocal acoustics, and signal processing.

Bonita Sharif, assistant professor, Computer Science and Engineering: Sharif has experience conducting empirical studies including the use of eye-tracking equipment. Her research includes software engineering, program comprehension and human-computer interaction.

Curtis Tomasevicz, assistant professor of practice, Biological Systems Engineering: A former lecturer in the College of Engineering, Tomasevicz does research that focuses on human movement (specifically power output of jumping and other movement), biomechanic modeling techniques for injury analysis and power systems equipment.

Robert Wilhelm, vice chancellor for Research and Economic Development, is also a professor in Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Having had the same role at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Wilhelm is the Kate Foster Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Nebraska. His research includes precision engineering, and virtual manufacturing and software frameworks for integrated measurement processes.