New faculty join School of Engineering

This fall, seven new full-time faculty members will join Tufts School of Engineering, and two more will arrive on campus in 2018. With research interests that range from cybersecurity to the tumor microenvironment, the new faculty members bring cutting-edge techniques and student-centered instruction to Tufts.

Steve Jacques, Professor of the Practice in Biomedical Engineering Steve Jacques has worked in the field of photomedicine for over thirty years, focusing on novel optical imaging methods for biomedical research and clinical care. He has developed many tools for biomedical research, including the hand-held bilirubin spectrometer, designed to draw blood from the heels of infants without causing pain.

Jonathan Lamontagne, Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering Jonathan Lamontagne received his M.S. and Ph.D. in environmental water resources systems analysis from Cornell University in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Following his graduate studies on flood frequency analysis and the incorporation of uncertainty in hydropower systems planning, Lamontagne worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University, studying uncertainty and robustness issues for models of the integrated human-climate system.

Susan Landau, Bridge Professor in Cybersecurity Susan Landau works at the intersection of cybersecurity, national security, law, and policy. She has testified before Congress, written for the Washington Post, Science, and Scientific American, and frequently appears on NPR and the BBC. With a Ph.D. from MIT, her previous positions include senior staff privacy analyst at Google, distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems, and faculty member at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Wesleyan University.

Liping Liu, Assistant Professor in Computer Science Liping Liu, who earned his doctorate at Oregon State University, is interested in probabilistic modeling, classification, and clustering within machine learning. He also applies these machine learning techniques to ecology studies. Liu previously held the position of postdoctoral associate at Columbia University, working with David Blei on aspects of machine learning, and worked on commercial data analysis for IBM T.J. Watson Research.

Megan Monroe, Lecturer in Computer Science Megan Monroe joined Tufts from IBM Research, where she designed and developed visual analytics tools for a wide range of Watson technologies. Monroe’s doctoral work at the University of Maryland focused on the analysis of temporal, event-based records, such as electronic health records and transaction logs. Her interests cover not only a wide range of computation, but also the application of computational thinking as a general problem-solving technique.

Madeleine Oudin, Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering Madeleine Oudin's graduate research at King's College London focused on understanding the interplay between multiple signaling pathways in driving neuronal cell migration in response to growth factors during adult neurogenesis. Her study of the tumor microenvironment uses an interdisciplinary approach that combines cell biology, microfluidics, intravital imaging, systems biology, and implantable devices. She will join Tufts in 2018.

Amy Pickering, Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering Amy Pickering's academic career has its foundation in biological and environmental engineering, while her doctoral training was in Stanford University's Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. Pickering has more than 10 years of experience conducting environmental health research in low-resource settings, and has led studies in both urban and rural sites in Kenya, Bangladesh, Mali, India, and Tanzania.

Jivko Sinapov, Assistant Professor in Computer Science Jivko received his Ph.D. in computer science and human-computer interaction from Iowa State University. He went on to be a clinical assistant professor with the Texas Institute for Discovery, Education, and Science at UT Austin and a postdoctoral associate working with Peter Stone at the Artificial Intelligence lab. Sinapov's research interests include developmental robotics, computational perception, autonomous manipulation, and human-robot interaction.

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. She will join Tufts in 2018.