Three Faculty Members Honored as Rising Star Professors
Behzad Esmaeili; Dr. Rohan & Mrs. Merle Phillips Rising Star Associate Professor (joint appointment with Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering)
Esmaeili holds a join appointment between the Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering, and Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering. With a research focus on human factors, construction engineering, and risk analysis, Esmaeili serves as a PhD advisor for many students pursuing their doctorate. He also holds an interest in human AI teaming, using AI-driven assessments to inform smart occupational safety. He has authored over 90 conference papers, and has been invited to speak at 32 events. Additionally, he has written 4 book chapters, 12 research reports, and 45 refereed journal articles.
Dr. Esmaeili has earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Amirkabir University. He also holds an M.S. and Ph.D in civil engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His research, integrating data analytics and human factor theories, is used in advancing occupational safety. He has received funding from the Construction Industry Institute (CII), Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR), Department of Labor (DOL), Indiana Department of Transportation (InDOT), Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT), National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Science Foundation (NSF)< and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).
Joaquin Goni Cortes; Juan Ernesto de Bedout Rising Star Associate Professor (joint appointment with Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering)
Joaquin Goni Cortes, jointly appointed by the Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering and the Weldon School of Biomedial Engineering is a computational neuroscientist who works in the research area of Brain Connectomics. As the head of the CONNplexity Research Lab, Cortes's research focuses on the application of complex systems approaches in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science. He also utilizes frameworks stemming from graph, information, and fractal theory to inform his contributions in theoretial foundations of Complex Systems.
Dr. Cortes holds a bachelors in Computer Engineering and a masters in Computer Science from the University of the Basque Country. He also has earned a PhD in Computer Science, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Bioinformatics from the University of Navarra. Since earning his degrees, Cortes has held an interest in healthy and disease conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases. Much of his project work revolves around these concepts, by relating structural and functional connectivity within the brain. He achieves this by integrating network morphospaces to determine relationships in the space occupied by data.
Denny Yu; Cubitt Rising Star Associate Professor (courtesy appointment in School of Health Sciences)
Denny Yu serves as an Associate Professor in the Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering, and holds a courtesy appointment in the School of Health Sciences. His research interests include neurodaptive systems for supporting human-machine interaction, physiological and machine learning to model real-time user cognitive states, and big data analytics for understanding human health behaviors. As such, he runs the Healthcare Ergonomics Analytics Lab (HEAL), linking human factors engineering, biobehavioral sensing, and technology design. His lab has been recognized with award from many organizations, including the Fulbright Commission.
Dr. Yu earned his bachelors in Bioengineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He earned both his masters and PhD in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In addition to his achievements through HEAL, Yu has published over 80 peer-review journal manuscripts in human factors engineering, with a focus on discovering object features through sensors and health datasets. This research aims to inform an understanding of human behavior and performance in complex, high-stress environments.