MSE Affiliate, Collaborator Named Director of ISR

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) extends its congratulations to affiliate professor Reza Ghodssi (electrical and computer engineering), who will become the new director of the Institute for Systems Research (ISR) effective October 1, 2009. Ghodssi holds a joint appointment with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and ISR, and is actively involved in collaborations with MSE faculty members.

"Professor Ghodssi has worked closely with MSE faculty and has directed MSE graduate students in their thesis work," said MSE Professor and Chair Robert M. Briber. "He brings extensive skills in research and management to his new position and represents an opportunity to strengthen ties between our department and ISR."

Some of Ghodssi's notable collaborations with MSE faculty, particularly with Professor Gary Rubloff, include devising means to detect and disrupt bacterial communication known as quorum sensing, which could prevent coordinated behavior leading to infection or illness; the development of lab-on-a-chip technology for the testing of new drugs' effects on living cells; and designing nanoscale storage systems for wind and solar energy that show a dramatic improvement over technology currently available.

Established by a National Science Foundation grant in 1985, ISR works closely with industry to deliver one of the top cross-disciplinary research and education programs in the nation. ISR's faculty is drawn from five University of Maryland colleges who are engaged in systems engineering research in a wide variety of fields.

For More Information:

Visit the ISR web site »
Visit Professor Ghodssi's web site »

Published September 22, 2009