Faculty Profiles
Manoranjan Misra
Chemical and Materials Engineering
In the not-too-distant future, University researcher Manoranjan Misra can envision a day when customers might pull into the drive-through at Starbucks for a cup of coffee ... and then fill their cars with biodiesel made from the same coffee grounds that produced their tasty latte.
Misra, a professor of chemical and materials engineering, has developed a novel process - believed to be the first of its kind in the country - to extract high-quality biodiesel from spent coffee grounds.
Indira Chatterjee
Electrical and Biomedical Engineering
Entering a room called the anechoic chamber, Professor Indira Chatterjee smiles and points to the hundreds of foam cones that line the walls and the ceilings.
“It’s like a recording studio, but a little different with a different kind of music,” she says.
The chamber is one of the main testing zones for Chatterjee and pharmacology professor Gale Craviso. The two have been conducting research together for nearly 10 years to discover the effects, both good and bad, high intensities of radio frequencies have on cells and skeletal muscle tissue. [Read more]
Saiid Saiidi
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Saiid Saiidi wants bridges to remember their shape after earthquakes. On the wall of Saiid Saiidi’s office is a watercolor he painted of the Golden Gate Bridge.
“Watercolor is a very challenging medium,” the engineering professor says. “You have to plan things; you only get one chance.”
Art imitates life. Saiidi, a world-renowned expert on bridge earthquake engineering, knows that with the real thing, there’s even less room for error. Facing that challenge is what drives Saiidi to find better ways to build and repair bridges after an earthquake. [Read more]
Eelke Folmer
Computer Science and Engineering
He’s not big on paper.
It’s not that the work of Eelke Folmer, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering, isn’t impressive or ambitious or even paper-worthy. It’s just that other than seven mini-Post-Its, there’s no paper visible anywhere in his office. Not even the one that shows he recently received a $90,448 grant from the National Science Foundation.
“We are the first ever to get a grant in gaming accessibility from the NSF,” Folmer said quietly. “We’re working with a massive multiplayer online game that can potentially offer opportunities for social interactions regardless of disabilities.” [Read more]
Eric Wang
Mechanical Engineering
“Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I’ll remember, but involve me and I’ll understand,” says Eric Wang, an associate mechanical engineering professor, as he begins his ME 151 class, "Engineering with Lego Bricks."
Wang said he starts with this ancient Chinese proverb to emphasize how he expects to teach his class. Students do not learn from textbooks or intricate lectures in the course – co-taught with Jeff LaCombe, associate materials science and engineering professor and graduate assistant Ann-Marie Vollstedt. Instead students learn by building, programming and competing. [Read more]
Monica Nicolescu
Computer Science and Engineering
Monica Nicolescu, assistant computer science and engineering professor, received the distinguished Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation.
The $410,000 award supports an educational research program dedicated to developing and evaluating innovative algorithms for robotic systems that learn from demonstration and interaction with human users.
“Robotic technologies hold an enormous potential for improving the quality of people's lives.” Nicolescu said. “The results of this project will enable the development of robots that can provide effective support, improve productivity, and reduce the workload for people in a broad range of applications.” [Read more]
Jonghwan Suhr
Mechanical Engineering
University researcher Jonghwan Suhr says a recent study could lead to new materials that will mimic biological tissues and artificial muscles.
The assistant professor of mechanical engineering has been working on the ability of carbon nanotubes to withstand repeated stress and still be able to retain their structural and mechanical integrity, similar to the behavior of soft tissue. While extensive research has been done over the past decade into the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube structures, this study is the first to explore and document their fatigue behavior.
“If you can smartly control properties and materials, you can more efficiently control the whole structure,” Suhr said. “If these nanotubes can mimic artificial muscles, then some day they might be utilized as the soft tissue of the stomach wall or even as tendons throughout the body.” [Read more]
Sushil Louis
Computer Science and Engineering
Representatives of the U.S. Navy visited the University of Nevada, Reno on May 25 to evaluate artificial intelligence training software being developed by computer science and engineering professors and students.
Since 2003, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering has received more than $2 million in grants from the U.S. Navy to develop gaming software using artificial intelligence to train naval personnel. This type of gaming software, known as ‘serious’ software, allows training to be conducted in virtual reality settings, such as the San Diego Harbor. [Read more]
Meet more of our Faculty
- Chemical and Materials Engineering
- Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Computer Science and Engineering
- Electrical and Biomedical Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering