Five new faculty members have joined the UCF Department of Materials Science and Engineering for the 2023-24 academic year. The faculty bring with them a wide range of experience and expertise in biosensors and biowearables, semiconductor materials, electron microscopy, machine learning and much more.
The new faculty are:
- Paria Gharavi – Assistant Professor
- Leland Nordin – Assistant Professor
- Ehsan Sani – Assistant Professor
- Shruti Vyas – Assistant Professor
- Liping Yu – Associate Professor
Paria Gharavi
Gharavi joins UCF as an assistant professor from the University of Pennsylvania, where she worked as a postdoctoral scholar. She earned her doctoral degree in materials science and engineering in 2019 from the University of New South Wales in Australia and her master’s degree in materials science and engineering from Sharif Technology University in Tehran. Gharavi specializes in electron microscopy techniques and multifunctional materials. Her work with leading electron microscopy centers around the world have resulted in several prestigious awards, including first place in the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure microscopy image contest.
Leland Nordin
Nordin comes to UCF from the Geballe Lab for Advanced Materials at Stanford, where he worked as a postdoctoral scholar. He holds a joint appointment between the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the UCF College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL). His research focuses on the design, growth, fabrication and characterization of semiconductor materials and devices, specifically nanostructuring techniques to enhance light-matter interactions and significantly improve device performance. He earned his doctoral degree and master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and his bachelor’s degree in physics from Grinnell College.
Ehsan Shirzaei Sani
Sani joins MSE as an assistant professor under the Infectious Disease and Travel Health Initiative. He comes to UCF from the California Institute of Technology, where he served as a postdoctoral scholar. He earned his doctoral degree in engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2020 and his master’s degree in engineering from Sharif Technology University in Tehran. His research focuses on advanced multifunctional and multimodal biomaterials for human and machine interfaces and regenerative medicine. He also explores wearable and implantable technologies for theragnostic applications. He has authored more than 40 research articles and holds five U.S. patent applications.
Shruti Vyas
Vyas joins the MSE department as an assistant professor after completing postdoctoral work in computer vision at UCF. Her research focused on effective representation through deep learning, and her long-term goal is to utilize her expertise in machine learning and bring the benefits of artificial intelligence to experimental research. She earned her doctoral degree in chemical engineering the National University of Singapore in 2016 and her other research foci include bioleaching and chemical leaching, material characterization and ultrasound applications.
Liping Yu
Yu comes from the University of Maine, where he taught as an assistant professor of physics. His research focuses on semiconductor physics and first principles design of new and improved materials for next-generation electronics and sustainable energy. For his work, he received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award earlier this year. Prior to his time at the University of Maine, Yu worked at the U.S. Department of Energy Frontier Research Center, the University of Colorado Boulder and Temple University. He earned his doctoral degree in physics from North Carolina State University.
Written by Marisa Ramiccio