Roop L. Mahajan, the Tucker Chair and professor of engineering science and mechanics, joined Virginia Tech and became the director of Virginia Tech’s Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) in July 2006. He is an internationally known researcher with expertise ranging from nanotechnology to bio micro-electro-mechanical systems (Bio-MEMS). His research interests also include cellular engineering microsystems (CEMS), artificial neural networks, humanistic engineering, thermal sciences, and solar energy. Mahajan comes to Virginia Tech from the University of Colorado at Boulder where he founded the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Packaging for Microwave, Optical and Digital Electronics, which became a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. He also founded the MicroElectronic Devices in Cardiovascular Applications Center at Colorado to foster scientific advancement in the study and application of MEMS in cardiovascular applications.

Mark A. Stremler, associate professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, whose research activities are focused on the analysis of transport and mixing in laminar flows. Laminar flow systems are at the center of numerous advances in medical, biological, chemical, and material processing applications that are important for improving human health, advancing scientific discovery, and maintaining national security. Analysis of vortex motion in laminar flow provides insight into the dynamics of vorticity-dominated fluid systems.

Jianhua Xing, assistant professor of biological sciences, does research on the dynamics of biological systems at various time and length scales through theoretical analysis and modeling (computational molecular cell biology). At the molecular level, his research focuses on understanding the mechano-chemistry of protein motors. At the systems level, he is interested in understanding the emerging properties of protein and genetic networks.

Scott King, professor of geophysics and expert on geodynamics. His research focuses on the dynamics and evolution of the interior of the Earth. For instance, the process by which the Earth cools is the driving force behind most tectonic and volcanic activity. Because the problems he works on require large computer calculations, his research interests also include improving the efficiency of computations and visualization of the results.

Jacob Sewall, assistant professor of geosciences, is a computational Earth systems scientist. His research focuses on understanding the history of the earth and climate system as represented in the rock record and exploring the potential for future climate system changes. He is particularly interested in high-latitude climate change, long-period interactions between climate and the solid and deep Earth, and the interactions between climate and societies — past, present, and future.

Shane D. Ross, assistant professor in engineering science and mechanics, is interested in nonlinear dynamics and chaos, utilizing transport in complex flows, orbital mechanics, spacecraft control and mission design, and mixing and transport processes. The goal is to analyze, simulate, and control the dynamics of mechanical systems and some fluid systems from a unified, geometric point of view. The development of efficient methods for navigation of complex flows will yield benefits in the many contexts in which mobile agents are or may soon be used in complex flows, from the macro-scale (interplanetary spacecraft, atmospheric unmanned vehicles) to the everyday-scale (air circulation in buildings) to the micro-scale (drug delivery via cardiovascular flow).

Scott Bailey, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, researches the physics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere. He is a member of the space science faculty and is deputy principal investigator for NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission, which launched in April. AIM is a two-year mission to study polar mesospheric clouds, which form an icy membrane 50 miles above the ground at the edge of space. The research is focused on understanding why these clouds form and why they vary. He is also co-investigator on the extreme ultraviolet variability experiment, which will fly on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite in 2008.

Masoud Agah, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, has research interests in design, modeling, material characterization, and fabrication technologies for micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), including: MEMS-based chemical sensing, environmental, and biomedical applications, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) and MEMS integration, packaging for micro/nanotechnology devices, merging MEMS and nanotechnology. As a Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, he was a member of the NSF Center for Wireless Integrated MicroSystems, where he developed MEMS-based gas chromatography columns for environmental monitoring applications. He holds one patent and has one pending.

Elife Zerrin Bagci, postdoctoral associate in biological sciences where she is a member of University Distinguished Professor John Tyson’s Computational Cell Biology Lab, which is modeling the cell cycle.