FACULTY NEWS
Five KU Researchers Earn Career Awards from the National Science Foundation by Joel Mathis
F
ive assistant professors from the KU School of Engineering each received a prestigious grant designed to help early-career faculty members in STEM disciplines establish a lifetime of leadership in their respective fields. The National Science Foundation CAREER grants were awarded to Esam El-Araby, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science; Gibum Kwon, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Xianglin Li, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Huixuan Wu, assistant professor of aerospace engineering; and Cuncong Zhong, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science. Two faculty members from KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Chris Rogan and Emily Witt, also received the awards. “This recognition forecasts great promise for these KU faculty who represent the future of their fields and are already making discoveries and innovations that will help us understand and change our world for the better,” said Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor for research. “They join 49 previous CAREER award winners across the Lawrence campus — a number that speaks to the sustained strength of KU’s research community.”
The five-year awards are designed to support “earlycareer faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization,” according to NSF. Dean of Engineering Arvin Agah said the awards serve as a source of pride for the university. “This is a tremendous accomplishment for these faculty members and shows the potential for their research to benefit society,” Agah said. “It positions them as role models for other early-career faculty and sets them on a course to be leaders throughout their academic careers. This type of recognition elevates the stature of KU Engineering and is a great example of the world-class research and teaching conducted at the University of Kansas.” The NSF first issued CAREER awards in 1995. Since then, 56 faculty members on KU’s Lawrence campus have received the grants: 21 in the School of Engineering, two in the School of Pharmacy and 33 in schools and departments across the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
A LOOK AT THE FIVE 2020 RECIPIENTS FROM ENGINEERING AND THEIR RESEARCH ESAM EL-ARABY
Esam El-Araby
El-Araby joined the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science in 2015. He was awarded $550,351 from the NSF for his work in trying to make supercomputers more accessible to the scientists, engineers, mathematicians and other researchers who need to harness their data-processing power. His work involves “very large machines” that possess “extreme heterogeneity.” They feature multiple types of processors — CPUs, FPGAs, GPUs and more — cooperating to tackle complex problems. Such machines are used in quantum simulations, high-energy physics, oil tracking, weather forecasts and even disease modeling. “Collaboratively they can do a better job than a system just made up of CPUs, just made up of FPGAs, just made up of GPUs, made up of just one type of computing technology,” El-Araby said. Programming these machines is also a complex job, however. El-Araby’s aim is to make it easier for users to ignore those “under the hood” complexities so they can simply and quickly write applications that help them pursue their research and solve problems. “We’re trying to hide these details from the nonspecialists,” he said. Otherwise, “this is a huge challenge that could limit our national ability and international competitiveness to build and efficiently use these large and heterogeneous machines.” KANSAS ENGINEER | 9
