Public can meet School of Engineering dean candidates

Four finalists for UNM’s dean of engineering and computing at the School of Engineering will be on campus this month and in early December.

The finalists for the position, named the Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing, are Christos Christodoulou, Naz Karim, JoAnn Lighty, and Ed Seebauer. The applicants are from UNM, Texas A&M, the University of Utah and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign respectively.

Christodoulou, the associate dean for research at UNM’s School of Engineering, earned a doctoral degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University in 1985. He is a past faculty member and associate chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where he also served as director of the Engineering Honors Program.

Christodoulou in 1999 was hired as a faculty member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UNM. He from 1999 to 2005 served as the department’s chairman. Christodoulou is one of the founders of the school’s COSMIAC center for space electronics and has served as the center’s director. Christodoulou’s areas of research include modeling of electromagnetic systems, machine learning in electromagnetics, high power microwave antennas, reconfigurable antennas for cognitive radio, and RF/Photonics, according his bio.

Karim, a professor of chemical engineering at Colorado State University for more than 20 years, is the Michael O’Connor Chair II and the head of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Karim earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. He earned a MSc and a doctoral degree from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

Karim’s research has focused on developing a novel membrane separation technique for separating flu virus, and the development of methodologies for diabetes treatment using model-based embedded control system, and studying leak detection in gas (and water) pipelines as well as fault detection in chemical plants using nonlinear estimation methods, according to his bio.

Lighty is a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Utah who is working on loan as the director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems. She served as chairwoman of the University of Utah’s Department of Chemical Engineering between 2007 and 2013. She also is a past associate dean for academic affairs for the College of Engineering. She also was the inaugural director of the former Institute for Combustion and Energy Studies, which is now the Institute for Clean and Secure Energy.

Lighty has focused her research on the formation of fine particulate matter from combustion systems; the fate of mercury in fossil fuel combustion; carbon capture technologies; and the formation and oxidation of soot, according to her bio.

Seebauer is the James W. Westwater endowed professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has served on the faculty since 1988. Seebauer from 2005-2011 was a department head. Seebauer earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1983, and a doctoral degree in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota three years later.

Seebauer’s current research is focused on the manipulation of atomic-scale defects in semiconducting oxides to make nanoscale devices, catalysts, and photocatalysts of interest in microelectronics, energy and environmental applications, according to his bio.

Julie Coonrod, search committee chair and professor of civil engineering at UNM, said in a statement that the committee is excited about the experience the candidates bring.

“The search committee was very pleased with the experience, strength, and diversity of our applicant pool,” she said.

The public can meet the finalists in the Central Engineering Auditorium on the following dates and times:
Christodoulou: Thursday, Nov. 17, 4 – 5 p.m.
Karim: Thursday, Dec. 1, 4 – 5 p.m
Lighty: Monday, Nov. 21, 4 – 5 p.m.
Seebauer: Thursday, Dec. 8, 4 – 5 p.m.

The four candidates were chosen in a national search. The new dean will replace Joseph Cecchi, who has been dean since early 2014. Cecchi also was dean of the school from 2000-2009.