College of Engineering Welcomes New Tenure-Track Faculty Members

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Among the new faculty in the College of Engineering, from left to right, are Xiao Liu, Fang Luo, Cameron Murray, and Alexander Nelson.

The College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas is proud to welcome new tenure-track faculty members to campus. This group brings a range of research interests and backgrounds to the college. Recruiting strong faculty members like this group is important in strengthening and expanding the College of Engineering’s research capabilities and providing an excellent education to our engineering students in order to prepare them for their future.

Dave Ford, Department Head of Chemical Engineering

Ford came to the University of Arkansas from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he served as associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Engineering and a member of the chemical engineering faculty. Previously, he was on the chemical engineering faculty at Texas A&M University. He also has industry experience in the chemical and financial sectors. As head of chemical engineering, Ford leads a department of sixteen faculty members, around 20 full-time staff members and over 300 students.

Xiao Liu, Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering

Liu received a doctorate in industrial and systems engineering from the National University of Singapore. He previously held positions at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and the National University of Singapore. His research interests include the applications of statistical and data analytics methods in solving real-world problems in broad areas such as quality and reliability engineering, environmental modeling, and prediction.

Fang Luo, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering

Luo holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China. He has served on the faculty at Ohio State University. His research focuses on high power-density converter design, high-density EMI filter design and integration, and power module packaging/integration for wide band-gap devices.

Cameron Murray, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering

Murray received his doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Oklahoma. His research investigates remediation methods for concrete structures affected by alkali-silica reaction, shear in prestressed concrete bridge girders, and the use of calcium sulfoaluminate cement in precast/prestressed applications.

Alexander Nelson, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering

Nelson holds a doctorate in computer engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His research interests include emergency communications, assistive devices, and home automation. Nelson is also interested in the interworking and connectivity of all devices, especially with concern to the cloud and smart objects.

Yarui Peng, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering

Peng earned his doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research focuses on developing methodologies and algorithms for parasitic extraction, analysis and optimization for signal integrity, and alleviating reliability issues in thermal and power delivery in 2.5D and 3D integrated circuits.

Zhenghui Sha, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Sha earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. His research is focused on theoretical and experimental studies on decision-centric modeling of evolutionary dynamics of complex systems and the decision-making in engineering design and innovation.