09/24/2014
The LSU College of Engineering is proud to welcome ten new tenure-track faculty members and one professional in residence for the Fall 2014 semester.
Shengli Chen, Assistant Professor
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
The outcome of Dr. Chen’s research topic on soil structure interaction using advanced
geomaterial models will provide potential guidelines for the analysis and design of
levees, embankments, and pavements in Louisiana. His research on hydraulic fracturing
initiation and propagation modeling could also be used to enhance the oil and gas
productivity of shale reservoirs in the state.
Mehdi Farasat, Assistant Professor
Division of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Dr. Farasat’s power electronics converters allow significant efficiency gains in the
generation, distribution, and utilization of electrical energy. They play an important
role in the field of renewable energy, especially in wind and photovoltaic sources.
As distributed power generation grows in substance and requires multiple paths of
energy conversion and control, energy systems will depend on these converters even
more heavily in the future.
Christofer Harper, Assistant Professor
Bert S. Turner Department of Construction Management
Dr. Harper’s research relates to project delivery and contracting methods for construction
projects. His work will enable the construction industry to maximize competencies
that lead to an increase in on-time project deliveries. On-time project deliveries
result in budget efficiencies that benefit both the public and end users.
Fengyuan Lu, Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
Dr. Lu’s research fields include nuclear waste management, radiation effects in nuclear
materials, advanced nuclear reactor materials, and energy storage and conversion materials.
His research leads to safer structural fuel materials and cycles toward the next generation
nuclear plants to produce green (zero-carbon emission) electricity.
Anas Mahmoud, Assistant Professor
Division of Computer Science & Engineering
Dr. Mahmoud designs and develops software engineering methods and tools. Fellow developers
and engineers use these tools to streamline the production of high quality software.
Dr. Mahmoud’s research can directly benefit various software development companies,
including those based in Louisiana, and help them deliver their products on time and
within budget.
Celalettin Ozdemir, Assistant Professor
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Dr. Ozdemir’s research interests are devoted to understanding and predicting environmental
flows, sediment transport, and fluid structure interactions that have critical implications
to the evaluation and mitigation of coastal hazard, sustainable design, and management
practices. His expertise is in multiphase flow modeling, simulation and modeling turbulent
flows, and parallel computing.
Jonathan Shi, Art E. Favre Industrial Construction Chair & Professor
Bert S. Turner Department of Construction Management
Dr. Shi’s research works to discover and develop new technologies and management methods
to ensure successful delivery of infrastructural systems essential for sustainable
social development and economic growth at both regional and national levels.
Qingyang Wang, Assistant Professor
Division of Computer Science & Engineering
Dr. Wang builds large-scale web applications with fast response times at high resource
utilization. This research helps achieve good performance and high utilization for
cost efficiency in cloud computing, which is increasingly used by companies and the
public.
Wesley Williams, Professional in Residence
Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering
Dr. Williams works in the area of industrial single and multiphase heat transfer and
fluid flows. This research enhances the performance and safety of energy systems like
those found in the petroleum, chemical, and power industries.
Mehdi Zeidouni, Assistant Professor
Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering
Dr. Zeidouni’s fields of research include analytical and numerical modeling of fluid
flow in porous media, application of inverse theory to flow-based problems, and reservoir
characterization through data integration.
Hongliang Zhang, Assistant Professor
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Dr. Zhang's research focuses on understanding the source, transport and formation
of air pollutants (ozone, particulate matter, and toxic pollutants) to protect people
in Louisiana from air pollution. His research about the effects of aerosols on meteorology
and climate also helps forecast the weather and track storms.
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