New Faculty - Who’s New

NEW FACULTY Who's New In the last three years eleven new faculty have joined the Division of EAS. They bring a host of novel research approaches and programs to the Division and the Institute as a whole. Below are short profiles of each, as well as a list of the most recent Moore Scholars who have enriched our research community by bringing new insights and building new connections. New Faculty in Computational Mechanics and a 2010 National Science José Andrade Associate Professor of Civil and Mechanical Engineering Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. He was a participant in the U.S. National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering meeting. Andrade's work is currently funded Professor Andrade's research objective by NSF, US Department of Energy (DOE), and Air Force is to develop a fundamental under- Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). standing of the multiscale and mul-tiphysical behavior of porous media, Guillaume Blanquart with special application to geologic Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering materials (e.g., soils, rocks) and engineered infrastructure materials (e.g., Professor Blanquart's research focuses cements). With this objective in mind, on the modeling of multi-physics and the aim is to establish frameworks by which the micro- multi-scale fluid mechanics problems structural features of porous materials affect macroscopic resulting from the interaction between material properties. The main tools are mechanics, phys- combustion processes and turbulent ics, computational mechanics, and advanced experimenta- flows. At the center of the work are tion. Some current applications deal with reactive flow in fundamental problems such as the deformable porous media for sustainable energy (e.g., COz formation of pollutants, the effects sequestration), mechanics and physics of granular materi- of turbulence on the dynamics of nano-particles and liquid als for resilient infrastructure (e.g., liquefaction, landslides), droplets, and various hydrodynamic and flame instabilities. and nanoscale modeling of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S- To build a better understanding of these complex flows, the H) for sustainable construction materials (cements). This research relies on high-fidelity numerical simulations and interdisciplinary research has various areas of synergy: en- targets all scales, from the quantum level to the size of a ve- vironmental engineering, geotechnics, geosciences, physics, hicle, and all types of flows, from homogeneous mixtures to mechanics and computation, and structural engineering. turbulent flows. For instance, the formation of soot particles José Andrade was born in Ecuador, South America, and im- is studied at the molecular level where the interactions be- migrated to the United States at the age of 18 to obtain his tween hydrocarbon species lead to the inception of the first BS in Civil Engineering at the Florida Institute of Technol- soot particle, and throughout the cycle of an engine where ogy. In 2001, Andrade received a fellowship to pursue his the particles are transported in the turbulent field and slow- graduate studies at Stanford University. In 2006, he received ly oxidized away by chemical reactions. The applications his PhD in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Geome- are diverse and include internal combustion engines, gas chanics and then immediately joined the Theoretical and turbines, flow around reentry vehicles, inertial confinement Applied Mechanics Group at Northwestern University as fusion, fires, and the paint industry. Blanquart received his an Assistant Professor. Andrade is the recipient of several BS and his first MS in Applied Mathematics from Ecole honors and awards including the 2006 Zienkiewicz Medal Polytechnique, France, in 2002. He received a second MS 8 ENGenious NO.7 2010 in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2004 and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2008, both from Stanford Uni-versity. He continued as a Postdoctoral Scholar under the supervision of Professor Heinz Pitsch at Stanford University before joining Caltech. Simona Bordoni Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering Professor Bordoni is an atmospheric dynamicist interested in monsoons and tropical circulations. Using observations and models, her research investigates fundamental dynamical mechanisms that are implicated in the existence of monsoon systems, their location, and their different geograph- ical features, and that might help understand how monsoons change in changing climates. In an ongoing project, she has, for instance, been able to simulate monsoons in a water-covered earth, showing that thermal contrasts between land and ocean, traditionally viewed as the fundamental cause of monsoon circulations, are not necessary for monsoon development. Bordoni received an Italian Laurea in Physics from the University of Rome Tor Vergata in 1996. She completed her PhD in Atmospheric Sciences at the University of California in Los Angeles in 2007, and later in the same year she was a Moore Postdoctoral Scholar at Caltech. She then worked at the National Center for Atmospheric Research as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Advanced Study Program. Bordoni is the recipient of the American Geophysical Union James R. Holton Award 2009, the UCLA Bjerknes Memorial Award 2005, and a NASA Graduate Student Fellowship in Earth System Science 2003-2006. Azita Emami-Neyestanak Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Professor Emami's research interests are in high-performance integrated circuits and systems. She is interested in developing new analog, digital, and architecture-level solutions for building complex systems in highly scaled technologies. In particular, she focuses on mixed-signal design for efficient NEW FACULTY and low-power data communication in advanced integrated systems, using both electrical and optical signaling tech-niques. The ultra-low-power and low-area circuits at the interfaces will have a great impact on the performance of multi-processors, biomedical devices, and sensor networks. She is currently working on efficient integrated biomedical implants for neural recording and stimulations. Novel integration techniques, which allow 31 structures, are also among her research interests. Emami received her BS in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technol-ogy, Tehran, Iran, in 1997 with honors. She received both her MSc in 1999 and her PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2004 from Stanford University, where she received the Solid-State Fellowship. She was with the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center from 2004 to 2006 and with Columbia University (as an Assistant Professor) from 2006 to 2007. Emami received the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for her research on "Data Communication in Advanced Integrated Systems" in 2008 and the Okawa Foundation Research Grant award in 2010. Julia Greer Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics The key focus in Professor Greer's research is the development of innovative experimental approaches to assess mechanical properties of materials with nano-scale dimen-sions. One such approach involves fabrication of nanopillars with different initial microstructures, rang- ing in diameter from below 100 nm to 1 micron by using Focused Ion Beam (FIB)-based and E-beam lithography/ electroplating approaches. Their strengths are subsequently measured in a one-of-a-kind in-situ imaging and mechanical deformation instrument, SEMentor, comprised of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Nanoindenter. This allows for precise control of displacement and loading rates, as well as for simultaneous video capture of the deformation process. The powerful capability of simultaneous mechanical (and, if needed, electrical) data collection while performing real-time imaging of sample morphology evolution has enabled the discovery of a unique mechanical response observed in a variety of material classes. In a striking deviation from classical mechanics, she has ob- 9 NEW FACULTY served size-dependent strengths, discrete deformation sig- tems using autonomous underwater vehicles, and studying natures, and unusual deformation processes. She postulates how people make decisions under uncertainty. Krause re- that these intriguing phenomena arise from effects of free ceived his Diplom in Computer Science and Mathematics surfaces and serve as the fundamental reason for the ob-from the Technical University of Munich, Germany (2004) served differences in their plastic deformation from bulk. and his PhD and MSc in Computer Science from Carnegie Greer received her SB in Chemical Engineering with Mellon University (2008). At Caltech, he is a member of a minor in Advanced Music Performance from Massachu- the Rigorous Systems Research Group, the Computation setts Institute of Technology (1997) and PhD in Materials and Neural Systems faculty, and the Center for the Math- Science and Engineering from Stanford University, work- ematics of Information. Krause is a recipient of an NSF ing on nano-scale plasticity of gold (2005). She has also CAREER award (2010) and the Okawa Foundation Re- worked at Intel Corporation in a mask micro-fabrication search Grant (2009) recognizing top young researchers in facility (2000-03) and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Palo telecommunications. His research on optimized informa- Alto Research Center, PARC (2005-07), where she stud- tion gathering received awards at several major conferences, ied organic flexible electronics. Greer is a recipient of the as well as the best research paper award of the ASCE Jour- NASA Tech Briefs award (2010), DARPA Young Faculty nal of Water Resources Planning and Management (2009). H Award (2009), Technology Review's Top Young Innova- is also a passionate classical guitarist. tor Under 35 Award (TR-35, 2008), the NSF CAREER Award (2007), the Gold Materials Research Society's Graduate Student Award (2004), and American Associa- Katrina Ligett Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Economics tion of University Women Fellowship (2003). She was one of 100 invited participants in the National Academy of Engineering's Frontiers of Engineering Symposium (2009) and was recently featured as a "Rising Star" in Advanced Functional Materials (2009). Julia joined Caltech in 2007. She is also a concert pianist. Her most recent performances include a violin-piano recital in the Lagerstrom Chamber Series (2009) and the Brahms Concerto No. 2 as a soloist with the Redwood Symphony (2006). The focus of much of Professor Ligett's work is on mathematical and computational approaches to fundamental problems in algorithmic game theory and in data privacy, with a particular emphasis on techniques from computational learning theory. Nash equilibrium strategies are commonly used as a tool for studying selfish behavior in R. Andreas Krause Assistant Professor of Computer Science complex systems; the underlying assumption of this approach is that selfish players will find and settle at a Nash equilibrium despite working independently and competi- Professor Krause's research is in adap- tively. In previous and ongoing work, Ligett explores al- tive systems that actively acquire in- ternative approaches to understanding selfishness, based formation, reason, and make decisions on algorithms designed to learn. In many situations, un- in large, distributed, and uncertain derstanding the outcomes of learning behaviors has pro- domains, such as sensor networks and vided new insight into the consequences of selfish play. the Web. The theoretical aspects of The goal of private data analysis is to allow the publi- his work include statistical learning, cation of broadly useful sanitized data while ensuring the Bayesian modeling, decision theory, privacy of the individuals represented in a database. Ligett's and optimization. His group devises new algorithms with work in this area has provided novel algorithms that a da- theoretical guarantees, builds models, analyzes large and tabase owner such as a hospital could use to release useful complex data sets, and develops systems that can automati- data to researchers, without compromising patient privacy. cally acquire and reason about highly uncertain informa- Ligett received her ScB in Mathematics and Com- tion. Example applications include monitoring earthquakes puter Science from Brown University (2004) and her PhD using community-held sensors, exploring biological ecosys- in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University 10 EN Genious NO.7 2010 NEW FACULTY (2009). She is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research cal Science (Tokyo), the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Fellowship, the AT&T Labs Graduate Fellowship, the Corporation Spacecraft Structures Laboratory (Yokosuka, CIFellows Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the NSF Math- Japan), the European Space Technology Centre (Nether-ematical Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship. She is currently lands), the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Univer- a Postdoctoral Associate in the Computer Science Depart- sity of Technology of Malaysia, and Stanford University. ment at Cornell University and will join Caltech in Fall Models of new deployable structures invented by Pel- 2011 as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and legrino were exhibited at "Contemporary Developments in Economics. Design Science: Buckminster Fuller Centennial," New York 1995-96; "Building for the Future," Istanbul 1996; "Les In- Sergio Pellegrino Joyce and Kent Kresa Professor of Aeronautics and Professor of Civil Engineering, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory Senior Research Scientist genieurs du Siecle," Centre Pompidou, Paris 1997; and the Farnborough Air Show in 2004. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Chartered Structural Engi- neer. Professor Pellegrino is interested in the mechanics of lightweight flexible structures and particularly in problems related to packaging and de-ployment. In recent years, one of his main interests has been deployable antennas made of ultra-thin composite materials that are constructed as a single piece, without any mechanical articulations. These structures are folded elastically and are able to self-deploy. Another area of his research has been concerned with the deployment and stability of stratospheric balloons. Pellegrino received his Laurea in Civil Engineering from the University of Naples in 1982 and a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1986. He joined the faculty at Cambridge in 1983, as an Assistant Lecturer, and then Lecturer, Reader, and Professor of Structural Engineering He also served as the Deputy Head (Graduate Studies) of the Department of Engineering. He has held visiting research positions at the Institute for Space and Astronauti- Keith Schwab Associate Professor of Applied Physics Professor Schwab's main research directions are to explore fundamental quantum behavior in mechanical structures, the quantum limits of mea-surements, and the boundary between the classical and quantum world. His research group utilizes and combines techniques from ultra-low tempera- ture physics, ultra-sensitive electronic, microwave, and optical measurement, and nanoscale fabrication and material science. His current work is focused on producing and measuring the quantum ground state of a mechanical device and measuring motion that avoids the limitations of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. His group collaborates widely with atomic and optical physics groups and has produced micro-fabricated single-atom traps and advanced op-to-mechanical structures. Schwab received his BA in Physics from the University of Chicago (1990) and his PhD in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley (1996). He was a Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar with Professor Michael Roukes at Caltech where he measured the quantum limit for heat transport. In 2000, he joined the National Security Agency and led a research group to probe the quantum limits of electrical and mechanical structures. He joined the Department of Physics at Cornell University in 2006, and arrived to Caltech in January of 2009. He has received a number of awards for his work, most nota-bly, he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and has attended and contributed to the 11 NEW FACULTY annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland in 2005, 2007, and 2008. He is interested in broad issues of national and global security and has appeared on PBS as a panelist for a Fred Friendly Seminar in 2008. Joel Tropp Assistant Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics Professor Tropp's research focuses on algorithms for solving computationally difficult problems that arise in applied mathematics, statistics, electrical engineering, and computer science. In particular, he studies how constraints on data complexity can be used to develop new techniques for signal acqui- sition and processing. This area encompasses classical prob-lems, such as variable selection in regression, as well as recent advances, such as compressive sampling. Other applications include inverse problems, machine learning, and data mining. Tropp studied at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1999, he received his BS in Mathematics and his BA in Plan II Liberal Arts Honors. He completed his MS and PhD in Computational Applied Mathematics in 2001 and 2004 with funding from an NSF graduate fellowship. From 2004 to 2007, Tropp was appointed by the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as T. H. Hildebrandt Research Assistant Professor. His postdoctoral work was supported by an NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fel-lowship. Adam Wierman Assistant Professor of Computer Science Professor Wierman's research interests are in improving computer system design through the use of analytic modeling and performance analysis. His main focus is on scheduling and resource allocation decisions in computer systems. However, he has also been involved with the design of man- ufacturing, telecommunication protocols, and the electricity grid. In order to provide performance analysis of computer systems, his work draws on tools that are traditionally used in the operations research community, in particular stochastic modeling, queueing theory, and game theory. However, standard stochastic and queueing models are often not appropriate for computer science applications, and thus a key component of his research is the development of new stochastic models and analytic techniques. Wierman received his PhD (2007) and MS (2004) in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University under the supervision of Mor Harchol-Balter. He received his BS with University Honors in Computer Science and Mathematics with minors in Psychology and Statistics from Carnegie Mellon University (2001). He is a recipient of an NSF CAREER award, an Okawa Foundation Research Award, a Siebel Scholars Award, and multiple teaching awards, including the Caltech ASCIT Teaching Award, the Alan J. Perlis Student Teaching Award, and the Carnegie Mellon University Graduate Student Teaching Award. His doctoral dissertation also received multiple awards including the Carnegie Mellon Distinguished Dissertation Award. In addition, he recently served as a visiting researcher at the EURANDOM Institute in the Netherlands and a visiting fellow at the Isaac Newton Institute at Cambridge University. 12 Interior space of the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology EN Genious NO.7 2010 Moore Scholars The Moore Distinguished Scholars program was established by Gordon and Betty Moore to invite researchers of exceptional quality who are distinguished at both the national and international levels to visit the California Institute of Technology for three to six months. There are no teaching or other obligations during the appointment, allowing Moore Scholars to focus on research. Fazle Hussain University of Houston Cullen Distinguished Professor; Director, Institute of Fluid Dynamics and Turbulence Lyle N. Long Pennsylvania State University Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics; Director, Computational Science Graduate Minor Program Eric Mjolsness University of California, Irvine Professor of Information and Computer Science, and Professor of Mathematics NEW FACULTY Linda F. Nazar University of Waterloo Professor of Chemistry, and Professor of Electrical Engineering Krishna V. Palem Rice University Kenneth and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing 13