Message From The Chair - August 2021

Dear alumni and friends,

I hope you and your families are doing well as the re-entry process from COVID-19 continues.

Congratulations, Graduates!

A warm welcome to the 86 undergraduates and 21 graduate students who recently joined the ranks of CHEE alumni!

We celebrated together at the CHEE virtual convocation and the College of Engineering in-person commencement, both held on May 14. Class of 2020 and Class of 2021: The last few years have been difficult, and you succeeded. We are so proud of you and so excited to hear about how your lives and careers unfold.

New Faculty Research

With $6 million in research expenditures in 2021 – up nearly $1.5 million since 2019 – CHEE is growing fast! The groundbreaking research and outreach of our new faculty will continue to build CHEE’s robust research enterprise and offer students new opportunities to learn, grow and explore their interests.

In this edition of “Engineered for Success,” you will learn about associate professor Erin Ratcliff's work powering a naval STEM workforce in printable electronics, assistant professor Vicky Karanikola’s partnership with Diné College preparing Navajo Nation college students for careers in STEM, assistant professor Suchol Savagatrup’s project developing a water test to immediately detect contaminants, and assistant professor Adam Printz’s research advancing perovskite solar panel technology. Join me in congratulating our new faculty for their great work.

Muscat Named Dean of Engineering at Wichita State University

It is with mixed emotions that I announce professor Anthony Muscat is leaving CHEE after 23 years to follow his passion for administrative leadership. He has been a faculty member since 1998 and served as department chair from 2014 through 2020. Anthony welcomes the opportunity because of WSU’s strengths in hands-on learning and applied research, as well as its mission to educate first-generation students.

Thank you for all you have given to CHEE, Anthony. You will be missed, and we wish you the very best!

Welcome Sylvia Sullivan, Assistant Professor

Sylvia Sullivan, currently a postdoctoral scholar at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, was selected to join the CHEE faculty after a rigorous search.

Sylvia uses both climate and weather models to study particulate interactions within tropical storms, especially in monsoon regions including India, western Africa and the North America. The North American Monsoon sets the annual rain cycle in southern Arizona, and data indicates the cycle has weakened in recent years. Sylvia’s work to understand the structure and propagation of the storms is critical to ensure water security for Arizona.

I am thrilled Sylvia is joining our team. She will add to CHEE’s strength in atmospheric sciences and is equally dedicated to teaching, service and diversity as she is research.