UC Davis Engineering Professors Receive NSF CAREER Awards

Four UC Davis engineering professors received National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Awards in 2022. The prestigious award recognizes junior faculty who have the potential to become leaders in their fields. It is the agency’s highest honor for young faculty and funds five-year research and education projects that often serve as the foundation for faculty careers. These professors join a growing list of 18 other UC Davis faculty who have received CAREER awards in the past two years.

Roopali Kukreja

Materials science and engineering professor Roopali Kukreja researches the optical manipulation of magnetic materials, complex oxide thin films and heterostructures. She and her research group use ultrafast lasers and synchrotron-based x-ray techniques to understand and manipulate the evolution of magnetic, electronic and structural properties at femtosecond to nanosecond timescales. These studies will advance the development of new heterostructures for laser-based building blocks in future high-performance computing systems. Read more

Jason Lowe-Power

Computer science professor Jason Lowe-Power co-designs hardware and software to improve the efficiency and programmability of modern computer systems. As part of the Davis Computer Architecture Group, Lowe-Power investigates improving the efficiency and usability of heterogeneous systems, enhancing system security using hardware extensions and developing open-source simulation methodology to support computer architecture research. Read more

Sabbie Miller 

Civil and environmental engineering assistant professor Sabbie Miller’s research focuses on designing sustainable infrastructure materials and minimizing their environmental impacts.

The laboratory is working to develop methods to assess the local, regional, and global impacts of materials production, advance alternative material manufacturing, and pioneer ways to produce desired properties in sustainable materials. The team works primarily with cementitious materials, bio-derived materials, and polymeric materials. 

Seung Sae Hong 

Materials science and engineering professor Seung Sae Hong works with materials that do not exist in nature: artificially designed 2D materials. These include electronic and magnetic materials, for which he hopes to understand and harness new properties that emerge at the nanoscale. His research group also explores novel applications based on exotic 2D quantum materials, from smart electronics to renewable energy devices. Read more