News Story

Ghodssi Named Herbert Rabin Distinguished Professor

Reza Ghodssi

Reza Ghodssi has been appointed Herbert Rabin Distinguished Professor in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. The four-year appointment, effective July 1, 2008, recognizes his sustained and influential scientific and scholarly work. The professorship will provide discretionary funds to further support Ghodssi’s research and educational programs.

The endowment, named for Herbert Rabin, the current interim dean of the Clark School, was previously held by William Bentley, who is now the Robert E. Fischell Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the Clark School.

"The succession from William Bentley to Reza Ghodssi maintains the high standards that were originally intended for this professorship," said Rabin. "I convey my personal congratulations and best wishes to Dr. Ghodssi."

Ghodssi is an associate professor and director of the Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Sensors and Actuators Lab in the Clark School’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Institute for Systems Research. At the Clark School he is also affiliated with the Fischell Department of Bioengineering and the Materials Science and Engineering Department; his university affiliations include the University of Maryland Energy Research Center and the Maryland NanoCenter. Ghodssi received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in 1990, 1992 and 1996, respectively. He was a postdoctoral associate and a Research Scientist in the Microsystems Technology Laboratories and the Gas Turbine Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1997 until 1999.

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. Ghodssi has over 55 scholarly publications and is the editor of the "Handbook of MEMS Materials and Processes" to be published in 2009. He 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 (aged 30-45) invited to attend the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium in 2007. 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.

“Reza is an outstanding and innovative researcher and educator, and we are honored to have him as a colleague,” said ECE Chair Patrick O’Shea. “We have great expectations for him.”

May 5, 2008