Faculty promotions in the School of Engineering

Shuchin Aeron, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Aeron was promoted to full professor and has been at Tufts since 2011. He has several patents in acoustic signal processing and is currently a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). His research interests are in signal processing, machine learning, high-dim statistics, and optimal transport. Aeron received his Ph.D. from Boston University. 

Marty Allen, Teaching Professor, Computer Science

Allen directs Tufts’ Online Programs in Computer Science and was promoted to teaching professor. He specializes in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and reinforcement learning. Allen earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in philosophy and became interested in computer science as an opportunity to do collaborative and interdisciplinary research. He then pursued his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and has taught at Tufts since 2019. 

Ayse Asatekin, Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Asatekin has been promoted to full professor. Her research interests span membranes, polymer science, material science, separations, and surface chemistry. She was named a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors in 2023. Asatekin joined Tufts in 2012, bringing with her a Ph.D. in chemical engineering through the Program in Polymer Science and Technology (PPST) at MIT.

Steven Bell, Associate Teaching Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Bell has been appointed Associate Teaching Professor. His research interests include engineering education, embedded systems, camera systems, and computational photography. Bell started at Tufts in 2018 and has since joined SOE’s Academic Standing Committee, been awarded Tufts Teaching with Technology Award, and had published his work in publications such as ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Conference Proceedings. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Ming Chow, Teaching Professor, Computer Science

Chow was promoted to Teaching Professor. He has a strong interest in cyber security and is known for his teaching excellence. Chow is a Tufts double Jumbo starting at Tufts in 2002 and has taught at Tufts since 2009.

Khaled ElMahgoub, Associate Teaching Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

ElMahgoub was promoted to Associate Teaching Professor and has taught courses from Radar Engineering to Probabilistic Systems Analysis. Previously, ElMahgoub was a research affiliate with the Auto-ID Labs at MIT and senior radar verification and validation manager at Autoliv. He co-authored over 35 technical journals and conference papers throughout his academic years. His research interests include Software Engineering, RFID systems, medical devices, sensors, channel coding, FDTD, antenna design, and numerical techniques.

Jeffrey Guasto, Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Guasto joined Tufts in 2013 and has been promoted to full professor. His research spans soft matter, biophysics, and fluid mechanics, with diverse applications ranging from biomedical devices to ecosystem dynamics to micro-robotics. Guasto earned his Ph.D. from Brown University and served as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT.  

Erica Kemmerling, Associate Teaching Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Kemmerling was promoted to Associate Teaching Professor. She teaches various undergraduate and graduate-level courses on fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and experimental methods. She has a particular interest in active learning methods and inclusive teaching practices. Kemmerling holds a B.S. in physics and an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.

Gary Leisk, Teaching Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Promoted to Teaching Professor, Leisk has taught at Tufts since 2002. He pursues research in materials processing and characterization, design of automated systems, and robot development using novel soft materials/mechanisms. Leisk is a triple Jumbo, and continues to apply design skills to the creation of new materials, structures, and actuation strategies with a goal of advancing tissue engineering and soft-bodied robotics.

Srivalleesha Mallidi, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering 

Mallidi, formerly the Tiampo Family Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, received tenure and is now an associate professor. Her research ranges from ultrasound imaging to nano drug delivery systems. Mallidi’s accolades include a Rising Star Award from the World Molecular Imaging Congress and Sunrise Award from the School of Engineering. She directs the Integrated Biofunctional and Therapeutics Laboratory (iBIT Lab) and has been a member of the Tufts faculty since 2019.

Mark Sheldon, Teaching Professor, Computer Science

Sheldon was promoted to teaching professor. His areas of interest are programming languages, software systems, concurrency, distributed information systems. Sheldon was awarded the first Faculty Disability Advocate Award from Student Accessibility Services in 2017. Students have repeatedly credited him as a key contributor to their intellectual and personal development. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. from MIT and his B.S. from Duke University. Sheldon started teaching at Tufts in 2012. 

Richard Townsend, Associate Teaching Professor, Computer Science

Townsend has been promoted to associate teaching professor. He was honored with Tufts’ Lerman-Neubauer Prize for Outstanding Teaching and Advising earlier this year. On top of his achievements, he also directs the Emerging Scholars Program, which introduces students in intro-level CS courses to the non-programming aspects of computer science while fostering community. His research spans functional languages, compilers for embedded systems, program analysis, and embedded domain-specific languages. Townsend earned his M.S., and Ph.D. from Columbia University and joined Tufts in 2019.