Named Professorships

The John R. Beaver Professorship in Mechanical Engineering was established in 2011 with a gift from the estate of John R. Beaver, E51.

Chris Rogers is the John R. Beaver Professor in Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering. At Tufts, Rogers has exercised his strong commitment to teaching by exploring a number of new directions, including teaching robotics with LEGO bricks and teaching manufacturing by building musical instruments. His research areas include robotics, musical instrument design, and engineering education. He earned his BS, MS, and PhD in mechanical engineering at Stanford University.

The Louis Berger Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering was established in 1989 by Dr. Louis Berger, E36, H65, A69P.

Farshid Vahedifard is the Louis Berger Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Vahedifard’s goal has been to develop transformative solutions for emerging issues related to climate-resilient communities and infrastructure systems while incorporating environmental justice. He earned his MS in Civil Engineering from Bu-Ali Sina University and from University of Delaware, and his PhD in Civil Engineering from University of Delaware.

The Cummings Family Professorship in Entrepreneurship was created in 1998 by Bill and Joyce Cummings. The professorship supports a faculty member in the Derby Entrepreneurship Center (DEC) at Tufts.

Elaine Chen is the Cummings Family Professor of the Practice in Entrepreneurship, Tufts Gordon Institute, and director of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center (DEC) at Tufts. Prior to becoming the director of the DEC, Elaine Chen served as Senior Lecturer and Entrepreneur-in-Residence for nearly a decade at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. As Founder and Managing Director of ConceptSpring, Chen helps corporate leaders build entrepreneurial organizations via innovation consulting and custom training programs. She received her MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.

The Frank C. Doble Professorship in Engineering was established as part of the estate gift of Frank Doble, E11, H62, a technology pioneer and philanthropist.

Fiorenzo Omenetto is the Frank C. Doble Professor in Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering. He has proposed and pioneered the use of silk as a material platform for advanced technology with uses in photonics, optoelectronics, and nanotechnology applications. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and of the American Physical Society. He earned his PhD in electrical engineering/applied physics at the Universita' di Pavia.

The Robert and Marcy Haber Endowed Professorship in Energy Sustainability was established in 2007 by Robert J., E79, EG80, and Marcy Haber, with the hope that this professorship will help to lessen the world's dependence on oil in an environmentally sensitive manner.

This professorship is not currently awarded.

The Alvin H. Howell Professorship was established from the estate gift of Frank Doble, E11, H62, founder of Doble Engineering, and was named after the late Tufts Professor Alvin H. Howell. Professor Howell helped foster a longstanding relationship between Tufts University and Doble Engineering, where he served for many years as a director and chairman of the board.

This professorship is not currently awarded.

The Karol Family Applied Technology Professorship was established in 2022 by Steven E. Karol, A76, A04P, A13P, and Michelle M. Karol, A04P, A13P, to support faculty members whose research, scholarship and teaching are in innovative and cutting-edge areas of applied technology with a preference for, but not limited to, faculty within the School of Engineering.

Matthias Scheutz is the Karol Family Applied Technology Professor, Department of Computer Science. His research lies at the intersection of cognition and technology, including artificial intelligence, cognitive modeling, machine learning, and human-robot interaction. He is an internationally recognized expert in the ethics of robotics and human-robot interaction and is the director of the Human-Robot Interaction Laboratory, which works to advance ethical and effective robots that can learn and interact more naturally with humans. He earned PhDs from the University of Vienna, Austria, and Indiana University.

The Karol Family Professorship was established in 2015 by Steven E. Karol, A76, A04P, A13P, and Michelle M. Karol, A04P, A13P.

Kyongbum Lee is the Karol Family Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Dean of Tufts School of Engineering. His research interests are in systems biology, metabolomics, and microbiome. He is particularly interested in discovering therapeutic and diagnostic targets for metabolic diseases such as obesity. He obtained his PhD in chemical engineering from MIT.

The Ada Lovelace Professorship was established in 2021 to support a term professorship in the Department of Computer Science within the School of Engineering over a five-year period.

Hari Sundar is the Ada Lovelace Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science. His research focuses on the development of computationally optimal parallel, high-performance algorithms that are efficient and scalable on state-of-the-art architectures. It is driven by applications in biosciences, geophysics, computational fluid dynamics and computational relativity. He earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.

The McDonnell Family Bridge Professorship was established in 2017 through the generosity of the James S. McDonnell Family Foundation and members of the McDonnell family. The purpose of this professorship is to support a senior faculty member of academic distinction in a science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) discipline and in evidence-based learning. The position awards the holder primary appointments in both the School of Engineering and the School of Arts and Sciences, allowing them to serve as a bridge between the two schools.

Milo Koretsky is the McDonnell Family Bridge Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Department of Education. He began his career pursuing canonical chemical engineering research focusing on plasma processes and thin film materials research. In a mid-career transition, he switched to engineering education research and he now studies topics such as learning and engagement in the university classroom. He received his PhD in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley.

The Stern Family Professorship was established in 2019 for the director of Tufts University’s Data Intensive Studies Center (DISC), a university-wide, interdisciplinary center dedicated to data-intensive research and pedagogy.

This professorship is not currently awarded.

The Stern Family Professorship in Engineering supports teaching, research, and scholarly endeavors in the field of engineering.

David Kaplan is the Stern Family Professor in Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering. He is a Tufts University Distinguished Professor and was previously chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering for 20 years. He was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He has received the Columbus Discovery Medal and the Society for Biomaterials' Clemson Award for contributions to the literature. His research focus is on biopolymer engineering to understand structure-function relationships, with emphasis on studies related to self-assembly, biomaterials engineering, and functional tissue engineering/regenerative medicine. He received his PhD from Syracuse University and SUNY at Syracuse.

The John A. and Dorothy M. Adams Faculty Development Professorship was created through the estate of Dorothy Adams, in honor of her husband John Adams, E39.

This professorship is not currently awarded.

The Bright Futures Assistant Professorship was established in 2019 to aid in the recruitment of outstanding faculty at Tufts University’s School of Engineering, to nurture the career development of Junior faculty, and/or enhance efforts to retain outstanding faculty.

This professorship is not currently awarded.

The Lin Family Assistant Professorship was established in 2019 by Bin Lin and Daisy Liu, A17P, A21P, to support the teaching, research, service, and other activities of a junior faculty member within any department in the School of Engineering.

Daniel Votipka is the Lin Family Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science. His work focuses on understanding the processes and mental models of professionals who perform security related tasks such as secure development, vulnerability discovery, network defense, and malware analysis to make security work more accessible and inclusive through improvements in education, policy, and automation. He received his doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Maryland and a Master’s of Information Security, Technology, and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

The McDonnell Family Professorship in Engineering Education was established in 2013 through the generosity of the James S. McDonnell Family Foundation and members of the McDonnell family.  The purpose of this professorship is to support a junior tenure-track position to vigorously and creatively lead a research effort in engineering education that supports the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach's mission and goals.

Greses Pérez is the McDonnell Family Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Greses Pérez's scholarship specializes in the interdisciplinary study of language and cognition for students who experience a cultural and linguistic mismatch between the practices of their communities and those in engineering and science. Her scholarship advocates to include the rich trove of insights from multicompetent groups in creating engineering solutions and scientific ideas. She received her PhD in Science Education and Learning Sciences from Stanford University.

The Minnie McNeal Kenny Assistant Professorship was created through an anonymous donation in 2024. Honoring famed cryptanalyst Minnie McNeal Kenny, the professorship serves as a tribute to her immeasurable impact on the field of cryptology. The fund is intended to aid in the recruitment of outstanding faculty, to nurture the career development of junior faculty, and to enhance efforts to retain outstanding junior faculty who will be instrumental in teaching and learning at Tufts for years to come.

Megumi Ando is the Minnie McNeal Kenny Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science. She leads the Ando Lab at Tufts University, which works on the theoretical foundations of anonymous communications. She was previously a Lead Cybersecurity Research Scientist at the MITRE Corporation. She earned her M.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and a PhD in Computer Science at Brown University.

The Ankur and Mari Sahu Professorship was established in 2019 as an endowed junior professorship in Tufts University’s School of Engineering.

Raja Sambasivan is the Ankur and Mari Sahu Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science. His research supports innovation in the cloud ecosystem — i.e., cloud data centers, distributed systems within data centers, and wide-area networks that connect data centers. During his career, Sambasivan has worked on a wide range of technologies related to the cloud ecosystem, including object-based storage, inter-domain routing, future Internet architectures, and big-data frameworks. He completed his PhD in electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

Glenn R. Stevens, E49 Assistant Professorship was established in 2023 to support the teaching, research, service and other activities of an assistant professorship in the School of Engineering.

This professorship is not currently awarded.

The Tiampo Family Professorship was established in 2018 by James J., E83, A83 and Kristy F., E83 Tiampo for Tufts University’s School of Engineering. The professorship will aid in the recruitment of outstanding faculty, nurture the career development of junior faculty, and/or enhance efforts to retain outstanding faculty in the School.

Srivalleesha Mallidi is the Tiampo Family Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering. She utilizes non-invasive acoustic and optical imaging techniques with nanomaterials and biological models to understand the structural, functional, molecular and biomechanical heterogeneity of pathologies such as cancer. Her current work focuses on advancing therapeutic, diagnostic, and drug delivery solutions for various types of cancer, including oral cancer, pancreatic cancer and head and neck cancers. She earned her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.