Seven faculty members in the Notre Dame College of Engineering have been named collegiate professors—a prestigious title awarded by the university and college in recognition of excellence in research, teaching and service. The designation may be conferred on faculty at the assistant, associate or full professor rank who have demonstrated sustained and noteworthy impact in their field.
All appointments were effective July 1, 2025.
“I am thrilled to see these seven faculty members recognized with this honor,” said Patricia J. Culligan, the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of Engineering. “This milestone highlights the importance of each faculty member’s contributions to their research field, but also to our college and university.”
Alexander Dowling has been named Tony and Sarah Earley Collegiate Professor of Energy and the Environment in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research integrates chemical engineering, computational optimization, and machine learning to develop advanced models and decision support tools across molecular to systems scales.
Meng Jiang has been named Frank M. Freimann Collegiate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. His research focuses on artificial intelligence and data science, with an emphasis on text and graph data for applications in materials discovery, education, recommender systems and mental health.
Edward Kinzel has been named Viola D. Hank Collegiate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. His research interests are centered on laser/material interaction in manufacturing, including thermal transport and optics as well as optical/infrared nanoantennas.
Thomas O’Sullivan has been named Frank M. Freimann Collegiate Professor of Biomedical Electronics in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He develops safe, non-invasive imaging technologies using visible and near-infrared light to improve medical care, with a focus on cancer detection and treatment.
David Richter has been named Frank M. Freimann Collegiate Professor of Environmental Fluid Dynamics in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. He develops advanced computational methods to study turbulence and multiphase flows in the atmosphere and ocean, with applications including hurricanes, waves and clouds.
Yichun Wang has been named Keating-Crawford Collegiate Professor of Biomolecular Engineering. Her research advances multiscale biointerface engineering by uncovering the mechanisms of material–bio interactions, driving innovations in nanomedicine, diagnostics, regenerative engineering and biomanufacturing.
Matthew Zahr has been named Robert W. Huether Collegiate Professor in Aerospace Engineering. His research focuses on creating efficient, highly accurate numerical methods to simulate high-speed flow and other complex physical phenomena.