Engineering Faculty Promotions for Fall 2025

Jamel Ali, Ph.D. – Promotion to Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering. Ali creates tiny bacteria-inspired robots (nanorobots) that can be controlled wirelessly to potentially deliver medicine, sense biological threats, or help with medical treatments by mimicking how microorganisms naturally move and function.

Bayaner Arigong, Ph.D. – Promotion to Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. Arigong designs advanced radio frequency circuits, antennas, and metamaterials and is now also leading groundbreaking quantum technology research with a $5 million NSF grant to develop quantum chips and quantum-enhanced AI security systems.

Shonda Bernadin, Ph.D. – Promotion to Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. Bernadin uses artificial intelligence and signal processing to analyze speech patterns and develop intelligent transportation systems like autonomous vehicles, while also focusing heavily on mentoring and creating opportunities for underrepresented minorities in engineering fields.

Tarik Dickens, Ph.D. – Promotion to Professor in the Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering. Dickens develops smart composite materials with embedded sensors through assisted-manufacturing techniques that can predict when structures like aircraft or military equipment might fail, while also advancing digital manufacturing and additive processing technologies to revolutionize how we build and monitor high-performance structures.

Rebekah Downes, Ph.D. – Promotion to Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering. Downes examines the contributions of nanoscale reinforcements to the structural and functional properties of hybrid composite materials and applies advanced manufacturing and computational modeling to engineer systems capable of withstanding extreme environments while providing multifunctional capabilities.

Daniel Hallinan Jr., Ph.D. – Promotion to Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering. Hallinan develops advanced polymer materials for clean energy applications, particularly creating solid polymer electrolytes to make safer, more efficient batteries and designing special membranes for water desalination and carbon dioxide capture to help address environmental sustainability challenges.

Jerris Hooker, Ph.D. – Promotion to Teaching Faculty III in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. Hooker is a Senior Design faculty member for ECE and postdoctoral researcher at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory who specializes in developing high-temperature superconducting (HTS) technology for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probes, working with resonant devices and numerical modeling to advance magnetic field applications in scientific research.

Kimberly Hunter, Ph.D. – Promotion to Teaching Faculty III in the Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering. Hunter specializes in engineering education and tissue engineering, focusing on developing technical communication skills for engineering students and creating engaging learning environments that challenge students to excel beyond basic curriculum.

Lichun Li, Ph.D. – Promotion to Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering. Li uses game theory and control systems to study how people, computers and physical systems can work together more securely and efficiently, focusing on protecting society from threats like cyberattacks, natural disasters and other adversarial situations by developing smarter strategies for coordination and defense.

Carl Moore, Ph.D. – Promotion to Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. Moore specializes in robotics and human-machine interaction, focusing on haptics, collaborative systems and remote manipulation. He is exploring interface design for robotic hands, using haptics to accelerate skill development and applying vision to improve teleoperation. He also leads initiatives that expand engineering student participation and mentoring.