Department of Electrical Engineering

Luis Herrera, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Herrera’s research lies at the intersection of power electronics, power systems and control theory. He is the vice chair and founding member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Power Electronics Society Technical Committee 11: Aerospace Power. In 2024, Herrera received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to develop different control methods to promote the wider adoption of direct current (DC) microgrids, which can run more efficiently than the more commonly used alternating current (AC) microgrids. More networks operated through DC grids could significantly increase energy efficiency, reduce losses and improve the overall operation.

Department of Engineering Education

Andrew Olewnik, PhD, is an assistant professor of engineering education and the director of experiential learning in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Olewnik studies design and other engineering problem types toward understanding how these problem typologies can best support undergraduate engineering education. He is also interested in how experiential and informal learning environments play a role in the professional formation of engineers. In 2024, he received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in support of his research into how people form a professional engineering identity (PEI). Using narrative inquiries and surveys of early career engineers, he seeks to develop a valid conceptual model of PEI reflection constructs, which he hopes to establish as publicly accessible “reflection interventions” that will support engineering students.

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Craig Snoeyink, PhD, is an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. An emerging researcher in fluid and thermal sciences, Snoeyink is focused on developing micro and nanoscale optical metrology techniques and utilizing them to study small-scall fluidic phenomena. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health, and American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund. Snoeyink is the recipient of a 2024 NSF CAREER Award to support his work in the development of dielectrophoretic molecular transport (DMT), a process that uses strong electric fields to push solutes—including those that do not have an electrical charge such as sugar and alcohol—out of water. DMT has potential applications in water treatment, whiskey distillation, and blood-based diagnostics. 

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Jason Sprowl, PhD, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, conducts translational studies that aim to identify and characterize regulators of drug disposition or targets that contribute to the variability of drug toxicity or efficacy in cancer patients. He currently focuses on investigating the role of transporter proteins in regulating drug or nutrient uptake and accumulation. In recognition of the potential impact of his research, Sprowl has received numerous awards including a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, as well as early investigator awards from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics’ division for Translational and Clinical Pharmacology, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and a competitive KL2 Scholar Award from the UB Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

Kang Sun, PhD, assistant professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering, is an atmospheric scientist who uses in-situ observations, satellite remote sensing, and numerical modeling of the Earth's atmosphere to understand air pollution and climate change. His research focuses on the chemistry and physics of the Earth’s atmosphere and their implications for human and ecosystem public health and the global climate. In 2024, he was awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award to map global emission sources of gaseous air pollutants and greenhouse gases. Based on an equation originating from mass balance, this project will remove a natural smearing effect that visually obscures the sources of these pollutants and gases, providing timely and precise estimates of emissions that can inform policy and scientific studies.

Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

Yinyin Ye, PhD, is an assistant professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering. Her research focuses on pathogen persistence in engineered systems and human exposures. In 2024, she received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to study the fate and transport of bacterial extracellular vesicles (EV) and their associated virulence proteins in wastewater and wastewater treatment facilities. Ye will monitor the EV stability in wastewater, analyze the functions of environmental EV and their potential health risks, and determine how to effectively remove them following the treatment process.

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Zhuoyue Zhao, PhD, is an assistant professor of computer science and engineering. Zhao’s research is focused on large-scale data management systems, such as approximate query processing (AQP) and query optimization, online transaction processing and online analytical processing engines, and streaming processing. In 2024, Zhao received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to develop ways to support real-time data analytics on large and rapidly growing databases by enabling reliable AQP capabilities in hybrid transactional/analytical processing systems, leading to increasingly demanding, real-time analytics applications. This research is important for ensuring that marketing, fraud detection and supply chain analytics can keep up with internet databases that hold large volumes of data that are processed at increasingly higher speeds.