Engineering Research Faculty ��ֱ����s

Researcher of the Year - 2022-2023

Stephen Gent, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of the North Central Regional Sun Grant Center, was named the college’s outstanding researcher at the university’s Celebration of Faculty Excellence ��ֱ��s Feb. 21.

Gent’s research team has secured funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. departments of energy, commerce, transportation, defense and agriculture as well as private industry. Gent has advised dozens of students in his research lab whose core focus is the development and implementation of high-fidelity simulations to realize products and processes in engineered and biological systems.

His research portfolio includes high energy particle physics, tissue engineering, renewable energy, implantable medical devices, water treatment facilities and agricultural systems. Gent’s team has published more than 75 peer-reviewed manuscripts and one textbook.

Early Career Investigator of the Year - 2023

Dr. Saikat Basu is an assistant professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at South ��ֱ�� State University (SDSU) and directs the Biomedical and Bioinspired Fluid Dynamics Lab there. The group works on fluid dynamics of biophysical systems, with respiratory transport modeling and tumor microenvironment flow physics as the current focus topics. Basu’s scholarly background is in theoretical and computational fluid mechanics. He received a B.S. in civil engineering from Jadavpur University, India in 2009 and a Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from Virginia Tech in 2014, followed by two postdoctoral stints at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan and at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill – School of Medicine. Basu joined SDSU in January 2019 and his group has since been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, along with industry-sponsored projects. Besides academic peer-reviewed publications, Basu’s work on intranasal therapeutics, respiratory infection onset mechanics, and bioinspired filtration has been widely reported on national and global media outlets, e.g., NewScientist, USA Today, Newswise, Phys.org and South ��ֱ�� Public Broadcasting. For his research contributions, Basu is also a recipient of the prestigious Fluid Dynamics Research Prize from the Japan Society of Fluid Mechanics.

Prior Researchers of the Year

2022-2023: Stephen Gent
2021-2022: Anamika Prasad
2020-2021: Xijin GE
2019-2020: Christopher Saunders
2018-2019: Reinaldo Tonkoski
2017-2018: Suzette Burckhard
2016-2017: Nadim Wehbe
2015-2016: Qiquan Qiao
2014-2015: Chris Schmit
2013-2014: Qi Hua Fan
2012-2013: Francis Ting
2011-2012: Delvin DeBoer
2010-2011: Nadim Wehbe
2009-2010: David Galipeau
2008-2009: Fred Delfanian
2007-2008: Kasiviswanathan (Muthu) Muthukumarappan

Prior Young Investigators of the Year

2022-2023: Saikat Basu
2021-2022: Yue Zhou
2020-2021: Todd Letcher
2019-2020: Rouzbeh Ghabchi
2018-2019: Mostafa Tazarv
2017-2018: Chris Saunders
2016-2017: Cedric Neumann
2015-2016: Stephen Gent
2014-2015: Xijin Ge
2013-2014: Mahdi Farrokh Baroughi
2012-2013: Qiquan Qiao

Prior Grantswinship ��ֱ�� Winners

2023

Rouzbeh Ghabchi
Mostafa Tazarv
Xinwen Fu
Kwanghee Won
Xiaojun Xian
Gregory DeRynck
Gregory Vavra
Hossein Rekabdarkolaee Moradi
Saikat Basu
Jeffery Doom
Stephen Gent
Todd Letcher
Guanghui Hua
Sharon Vestal

2022

Aritra Banerjee
Rouzbeh Ghabchi
Guanghui Hua
Michael Pawlovich
Mostafa Tazarv
Francis Ting
Kaiqun FU
Songxin Tan
Reinaldo Tonkoski
Kwanghee Won
Xiaojun Xian
Yue Zhou
Gregory DeRynck
Gregory Vavra
Kurt Cogswell
John Jasper
Hossein Rekabdarkolaee Moradi
Saikat Basu
Jeffery Doom
Stephen Gent
Zhong Hu
Gregory Michna
Todd Letcher
Doang Nguyen
Anamika Prasad
Christopher Schmit
Sharon Vestal

2021

Suzette Burckhard
Rouzbeh Ghabchi
Guanghui Hua
Michael Pawlovich
Junwon Seo
Mostafa Tazarv
Francis Ting
Ekaterina Koromyslova
Huitian Lu
Timothy Hanson
Sung Shin
Sidd Suryanarayanan
Reinaldo Tonkoski
Kwanghee Won
Ruanbao Zhou
Yue Zhou
Gregory DeRynck
Larry Leigh
Kurt Cogswell
Gemechis Djira
Hossein Rekabdarkolaee Moradi
Cedric Neumann
Christopher Saunders
Saikat Basu
Marco Ciarcia
Jeffery Doom
Stephen Gent
Zhong Hu
Todd Letcher
Doang Nguyen
Anamika Prasad
Michael Twedt
Christopher Schmit
Sharon Vestal

2020

Christ Schmit
Suzette Burckhard
Larry Leigh
Sung Shin
Tim Hansen
Jeffrey Doom
Stephen Gent
Rich Reid
Greg Michna
Todd Letcher
Qiquan Qiao
John McMaine
Rouzbeh Ghabchi
Nadim Wehbe
Junwon Seo
Francis Ting
Greg Derynck
Xijin Ge
Dennis Helder
Cedric Neumann
Chris Saunders
Mostafa Tazarv
Reinaldo Tonkoski
Greg Vavra

2019

Suzette Burckhard
Jeff Doom
Ge Xijin
Stephen Gent
Rouzbeh Ghabchi
Tim Hansen
Dennis Helder
Larry Leigh
Todd Letcher
John McMaine
Greg Michna
Cedric Neumann
Qiquan Qiao
Rich Reid
Chris Saunders
Chris Schmit
Junwon Seo
Shin Sung
Mostafa Tazarv
Francis Ting
Reinaldo Tonkoski
Nadim Wehbe

2018

Tom Brandenburger
Suzette Burckhard
Greg Derynck
Stephen Gent
Rouzbeh Ghabchi
Dennis Helder
Larry Leigh
Semhar Michael
Cedric Neumann
Qiquan Qiao
Rich Reid
Chris Saunders
Chris Schmit
Junwon Seo
Mostafa Tazarv
Reinaldo Tonkoski
Francis Ting
Greg Vavra
Nadim Wehbe

2017

Ross Abraham
Tom Brandenburger
Suzette Burckhard
Stephen Gent
Tim Hansen
Dennis Helder
Larry Leigh
Huitian Lu
Semhar Michael
Cedric Neumann
Jon Puetz
Qiquan Qiao
Rich Reid
Ghabchi Rouzbeh
Chris Saunders
Chris Schmit
Mostafa Tazarv
Francis Ting
Greg Vavra
Sharon Vestal
Nadim Wehbe

2016

Ross Abraham
Suzette Burckhard
Fred Delfanian
Stephen Gent
Dennis Helder
Zhong Hu
Guanghui Hua
Cedric Neumann
Jon Puetz
Qiquan Qiao
Rich Reid
Chris Saunders
Chris Schmit
Sung Shin
Reinaldo Tonkoski
Greg Vavra
Sharon Vestal
Nadim Wehbe

2015

Ross Abraham
Suzette Burckhard
Fred Delfanian
QiHua Fan
Stephen Gent
Dennis Helder
Cedric Neumann
Jon Puetz
Qiquan Qiao
Rich Reid
Chris Schmit
Sung Shin
Ken Skorseth
Sharon Vestal
Nadim Wehbe

2014

Ross Abraham
Suzette Burckhard
Fred Delfanian
Stephen Gent
Dennis Helder
Greg Michna
Jon Puetz
Qiquan Qiao
Xiao Qin
Rich Reid
Chris Schmit
Sung Shin
Ken Skorseth
Sharon Vestal
Nadim Wehbe

2013

Ross Abraham
Mahdi Baroughi
Venkat Bomissetty
Fred Delfanian
QiHua Fan
Dave Galipeau
Xijin Ge
Stephen Gent
Teresa Hall
Dennis Helder
Jung-Han Kimn
Alex Moutsoglou
Jon Puetz
Qiquan Qiao
Xiao Qin
Rich Reid
Chris Schmit
Sung Shin
Ken Skorseth
Mike Twedt
Sharon Vestal
Nadim Wehbe

2012

Mahdi Baroughi
Bruce Berdanier
Venkat Bommisetty
Fred Delfanian
QiHua Fan
Dave Galipeau
Xijin Ge
Stephen Gent
Teresa Hall
Dennis Helder
Jung-Han Kimn
Alex Moutsoglou
Jon Puetz
Qiquan Qiao
Xiao Qin
Rich Reid
Chris Saunders
Chris Schmit
Sung Shin
Ken Skorseth
Francis Ting
Mike Twedt
Sharon Vestal
Nadim Wehbe

2011

Ross Abraham
Bruce Berdanier
Venkat Bommisetty
Delvin DeBoer
Fred Delfanian
Dave Galipeau
Xijin Ge
Stephen Gent
Teresa Hall
Dennis Helder
Alex Moutsoglou
Jon Puetz
Qiquan Qiao
Rich Reid
Christopher Schmit
Ken Skorseth
Mike Twedt
Sharon Vestal
Nadim Wehbe