The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering proudly announces that eight of our faculty members have been honored with the 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Early CAREER Awards. Representing a diverse range of disciplines and specialties within the College, these distinguished faculty members exemplify excellence in both research and education. The NSF CAREER Awards, the Foundation’s most prestigious recognition, support promising faculty who are poised to become academic role models and lead transformative advancements in their fields.
Jessica Allen, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
UF MAE professor Dr. Jessica Allen recently submitted a proposal that won her a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. Allen’s proposal was centered on developing better computational models for simulating gait rehabilitation. The computational modeling approach that Allen and her lab use is referred to as neuromechanical modeling, as it focuses on modeling the interactions between the nervous system and the “mechanical” system of muscles and bones. These models could allow for clinical simulations of certain rehab procedures or prosthetic devices on digital versions of patients so that decisions can be made without having to actually test on that person.
Farimah Farahmandi, Ph.D., Department of Electrical and Engineering Department
Farahmandi Receives NSF CAREER Award for AI-Assisted Security Verification Framework.
Walden C. Rhines Endowed Assistant Professor for Hardware Security Farimah Farahmandi has received an NSF CAREER award supporting her project “SAIF: Security Assurance through AI and Formal Approaches for System-on-Chips.” The project seeks to enhance the safety and security of microelectronics by creating an innovative AI-assisted security verification framework for modern complex system-on-chip (SoC) devices.
Baoyun Ge, Ph.D. Department of Electrical and Engineering Department
Baoyun Ge Receives NSF CAREER Award to Explore High-Performance, Highly Sustainable Electric Machines.
ECE Florida Assistant Professor Baoyun Ge has received an NSF CAREER Award for his project “Guided Exploration of Multiphysics Design Space for Electric Machines Using Tensorial Analysis (GEOMETRY).” The $550k project will help Dr. Ge explore the performance boundaries of electric machines in order to continue the fight against climate change and excessive carbon emissions.
Honggyu Kim, Ph.D., Department of Materials Science & Engineering
In the internet age, the landscape of human-generated data has undergone a remarkable transformation. From the early days of website creation to the current era of cloud storage, social media, big data, and artificial intelligence, the collective output of information has soared with each passing year, marking a substantial increase in the volume and complexity of the content created.
Amor Menezes, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Menezes received this honor for his work in the areas of modeling and control of biological systems. The proposal that won the award is titled “Enabling Functional Biological Programs.”
The award will enable the systematic development of techniques and tools to accomplish artificial biological regulation. These synthetic programs will control biological protein and molecule production, and will profoundly impact human health, climate targets, energy supplies, food security, agriculture, supply chain resilience, and national security.
Jing Pan, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Pan’s winning proposal was about developing a biosensing technology for monitoring chemicals and biomolecules in bodily fluids, such as blood, sweat, or saliva. This technology will help patients with compromised immune systems, which cause a substantial number of deaths every year and are one of the costliest conditions to diagnose and manage. It will also allow medical professionals to make better clinical decisions with more information about the disease trajectory of patients.
Anna Porras, Ph.D. J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering
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Xilei Zhao, Ph.D., Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering
Dr. Xilei Zhao has been awarded an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant titled “An Integrated Trustworthy AI Research and Education Framework for Modeling Human Behavior in Climate Disasters.” This grant will support research in developing and using AI responsibly based on a White House Executive Order.