Ghodssi Named UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher

Congratulations to Professor Reza Ghodssi, who has been selected as a 2014-2015 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher by the University of Maryland. Reza Ghodssi is the Herbert Rabin Distinguished Chair in Engineering, Director of the Institute for Systems Research (ISR) and Director of the MEMS Sensors and Actuators Lab (MSAL) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the Institute for Systems Research (ISR) at the University of Maryland (UMD). He is also affiliated with the Fischell Department of Bioengineering(BIOE), the Maryland NanoCenter, the University of Maryland Energy Research Center (UMERC), and the Materials Science and Engineering Department (MSE) at UMD.

He joins Professor Min Wu (ECE/ISR), 2013-2014; Professor Carol Espy-Wilson (ECE/ISR), 2012 – 2013; Professor Patrick O’Shea (ECE/IREAP/Physics/NanoCenter/UMERC), 2010–2011; Professor K.J. Ray Liu (ECE), 2006-2007; Professor Howard Milchberg (ECE/Physics/IPST), 2005–2006; Professor Michael Fu (Robert H. Smith School of Business/ISR/ECE), 2004-2005; Professor Rama Chellappa (ECE/CS/UMIACS/CFAR), 2003-2004; Professor Steven Marcus(ECE/ISR), 2000-2001; Professor Isaak Mayergoyz (ECE/UMIACS) 1995-1996; Professor William Destler, 1992-1993; and Professor Christopher Davis (ECE/Maryland Optics Group), 1989-1990; as ECE winners of the award.

Dr. Ghodssi's research interests are in the design and development of microfabrication technologies and their applications to micro/nano devices and systems for chemical and biological sensing, small-scale energy conversion and harvesting. At Wisconsin, his Ph.D. thesis was focused on development of a high aspect ratio microfabrication process for an electrostatic driven MEMS device using x-ray lithography and LIGA technology. At MIT, he developed the building block MEMS fabrication technologies for a microturbine generator device, and also served as an Assistant Director on that project. At Maryland, his research group has pioneered the development of next generation PowerMEMS devices supported on micro-ball bearing, MEMS-based gray-scale technologies and the use of novel III-V optical MEMS devices and systems for chemical and biological detection.

Dr. Ghodssi's research has been funded by Army Research Lab (ARL), Department of Energy (DoE)National Science Foundation (NSF), Laboratory for Physical Sciences (LPS), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and R.W. Deutsch Foundation. He has served as a program co-chairman for the 2001 International Semiconductor Device Research Symposium (ISDRS) and as a chairman of the "MEMS and NEMS Technical Group" at the American Vacuum Society (AVS) from 2002 to 2004. Dr. Ghodssi was chair of the 9th International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications(PowerMEMS 2009) and served as the Americas Technical Program Committee chair of IEEE SENSORS 2010, 2011 and 2012. He has chaired the committee for the Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award sponsored by Microsoft and the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) since 2007.

Dr. Ghodssi has more than 95 scholarly publications, is the co-editor of the MEMS Materials and Processes Handbook published in 2011, and is an associate editor for the Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems (JMEMS) and Biomedical Microdevices (BMMD). Dr. Ghodssi has received the 2001 UMD George Corcoran Award, the 2002 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and the 2003 UMD Outstanding Systems Engineering Faculty Award. He was among 100 of the nation's outstanding engineers invited to attend the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium in 2007 and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) EU-U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium in 2010. Dr. Ghodssi is the co-founder of MEMS Alliance in the greater Washington area and a member of the IEEE, AVS, MRS, ASEE and AAAS societies.

The Distinguished Scholar-Teacher program recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated outstanding scholarly achievement along with equally outstanding accomplishments as teachers. Cohen is one of only four Maryland professors to receive the honor this year. Nominees for the award are selected by their peers; the winners are chosen by a panel of former Distinguished Scholar-Teachers. The Scholar-Teachers bring a passion for learning to their colleagues and students, and serve as models of what a professor at a fine research university should be. Winners receive a cash award to support instructional and scholarly activities, and make a public presentation in the fall semester on a topic of scholarly interest.

For more information about the Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award program, as well as a list of past winners, please visit: http://www.faculty.umd.edu/FacAwards/dstlist.html.

Published March 19, 2014