School of Engineering welcomes new faculty

In 2018 and 2019, eight new faculty members join the School of Engineering.
Stock image of Tufts campus in the fall

Seven new full-time faculty members will join Tufts School of Engineering this fall, and one will arrive on campus in 2019. These new faculty members bring diverse expertise to fields ranging from photoacoustic imaging to data analysis.

Steven Bell, Lecturer in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Steven Bell is a lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Computer engineering, where he teaches topics from C programming to digital design to cameras and imaging systems. His Ph.D. work at Stanford focused on tools for rapid creation of high-performance hardware/software systems for imaging applications. He is also interested in the transfer of engineering education research into the classroom at all levels.

Karen Edwards, Lecturer in Computer Science

Karen Edwards comes to Tufts with 26 years of teaching experience with a wide variety of audiences. She studied mathematics at Princeton and the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on low-dimensional geometric topology.

Jeffrey Foster, Professor in Computer Science

Jeffrey Foster's research focuses on creating tools for improving software quality and efficiency. He also studies programming languages and system design and development. He received a doctorate in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master's of Engineering in Computer Science from Cornell University.

Michael C. Hughes, Ann W. Lambertus and Peter Lambertus Term Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science

Mike Hughes develops methods that find useful structure in large, messy datasets and help people make decisions in the face of uncertainty. He completed a Ph.D. in computer science at Brown University in 2016 and spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University.

Matias Korman, Visiting Assistant Professor in Computer Science

Matias Korman studies computational geometry, with a focus on creating efficient algorithms. He received a Ph.D. in computer science from Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and bachelor's degrees in mathematics and computer science from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain.

Srivalleesha Mallidi, Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering

Srivalleesha Mallidi, who joins Tufts in 2019, researches ultrasound imaging, photoacoustic imaging, multi-modality imaging, and image-guided therapeutics. She received a bachelor's degree in electronics and communications engineering from Andhara University in Visakhapatnam, India. She also received a doctorate and master's degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Nav Nidhi Rajput, Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering

Nav Nidhi Rajput received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering at Louisiana State University specializing in molecular dynamics studies of ionic liquids (ILs) confined inside nanoporous materials for applications in electrochemistry. At Tufts, her research group seeks to not just understand but also predict the properties of fluids and solid/fluid interfaces by gaining a fundamental understanding of synthesis-structure-property relationships.

Deborah Sunter, Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering

After completing her doctoral studies at UC Berkeley, Deborah Sunter went on to be an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy and a postdoctoral fellow in the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at UC Berkeley. Using computational modeling and data science techniques, she is able to explore the interface of technology innovation and policy for improved environmental sustainability.