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Our time to shine. School of
Message from the Dean
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WELCOME TO THE 2022
issue of UNM Engineering. Although reading messages from me may seem uneventful to you, this message marks the end of an era for me. After being dean for almost six years, my tenure in this position is coming to an end. As this issue goes to print, a lot of wise people dedicated to the mission of UNM and the School of Engineering are in the process of selecting a new dean, who will be taking the reins in 2023. Although we don’t know what the future will bring, I have full confidence that the new dean will continue to steer the School in a positive direction.
As for me, I will be taking on familiar roles (ones that I never actually left) as a professor, researcher and mentor to students, still active and engaged with what is going on in the School, just from a different vantage point.
While six years as a dean is a good run, I always feel there is more I wanted to do to capitalize on all the momentum we’ve built with alumni, faculty, staff and students. Part of my plans (and the plans of many) were cut short by the pandemic. But despite that major disruption, I am proud that many of our initiatives still were able to be implemented, not the least of which is the Our Time $50 million campaign for the School of Engineering (see Page 2), which is raising money for our people and programs. So far, we have raised about $30 million toward our goal, helped immensely by donors like Doug Campbell (see Page 6). In addition to my role working with donors who are passionate about the School, I have also enjoyed watching many of our faculty thrive, like Sang M. Han, who is the new chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (see Page 7), and Lydia Tapia, the new chair of the Department of Computer Science (see Page 8). They both bring fresh, new ideas to the School, as do younger faculty like Anjali Mulchandani, who is finding new solutions to the water crisis (see Page 17), and Liz Godwin, who is committed to increasing the ranks of diverse voices to tackle our equally diverse global challenges (see Page 14). Seeing this generation of innovators gives me confidence in the future.
Another one of my goals was to develop a program that maximizes the partnerships the School of Engineering has had with industry partners for decades, benefitting both students and companies. I’m pleased to announce that we have now launched the Corporate Affiliate Program (see Page 15) and had a successful Industry Roundtable luncheon this summer, with some fruitful discussion. I look forward to seeing how this program develops in years to come.
It’s been my pleasure to serve as dean and work with so many talented faculty, staff, students and supporters in so many ways. But as we know, life marches forward. Those who know me know I like to draw upon my heritage and quote Greek philosophers. A fitting one is from Heraclitus: “There is nothing permanent except change.”
When I became dean, the UNM Engineering magazine cover in 2017 featured me with the theme of “New Beginnings.” And here we are once again, at a similar juncture.
Here’s to new beginnings.
Christos Christodoulou
Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing
On the cover School Of Engineering launches historic campaign for our people and programs
UNM Engineering 2022, Volume 18
UNM Engineering is published annually by the University of New Mexico School of Engineering. Subscriptions are free; requests should be submitted to the address below. Material may not be reproduced without permission.
School of Engineering, Centennial Engineering Center, Room 3071, MSC01 1140, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1140. 505-277-5521 engineering.unm.edu
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Writing Kim Delker, UNM Amber Medina, Medina Marketing & Communications
Design Brian Hurshman, Sparkplug Studio
Photography Eric Swanson, Obscura Inc. Kate Rodriguez Duran Max Woltman Photography
contents
02 Our time to shine. School of Engineering launches $50 million campaign for student, faculty support
06 Promise for the future 07 Sang M. Han finds the right chemistry as new leader of his department 08 ‘A serendipitous life.’ The right people in the right places were key to Lydia Tapia’s success 10 Transitions and Achievements 12 Research Roundup 14 UNM leads National Science Foundation collaborative project to increase diversity among STEM faculty 15 UNM Engineering launches Corporate Affiliate Program 16 Project VolCAN team makes history in Canary Islands 17 Five for Anjali Mulchandani
OUR TIME TO
SHINE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING LAUNCHES $50 MILLION CAMPAIGN FOR STUDENT, FACULTY SUPPORT
Amidst a crowd of hundreds of supporters in the courtyard of Centennial Engineering Center on a mild evening in early November, the School of Engineering officially kicked off an initiative to raise $50 million to focus on providing students and faculty with the support they need to thrive.
The campaign, called Our Time, was announced at an event that also celebrated the grand opening of the Dana C. Wood FSAE Racing Lab and Garage, which was made possible by a major gift to the School of Engineering in 2018. The campaign, which began in a silent phase in 2018, is set to conclude in 2025.
CHRISTOS CHRISTODOULOU
“This fundraising campaign has already enabled us to provide unprecedented support to the students and faculty in the School of Engineering,” said Christos Christodoulou, Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing. “Private donations to the School allow us to do so much more than has ever been done before, from helping students with scholarships and fellowships to providing faculty with funds that can take their research to the next level. The possibilities are endless.”
So far, about $30 million has been raised toward the goal of the Our Time campaign, which began in a silent phase in 2018. The campaign is set to conclude in 2025.
BRIAN BURNETT
Although UNM is a public institution that receives funding from the state, that proportion continues to decline, so in order to effectively attract and retain top students and faculty with funding and other benefits offered by competing institutions, additional funding is needed. Examples of the use of such funding are student scholarships and fellowships, funds so students can travel to attend professional conferences, as well as extra funding to advance faculty research, facilities and equipment.
Brian Burnett, who received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering in 1978 and 1980, respectively, is chair of the campaign steering committee. He explained that the fundraising effort actually began a few years ago in a “silent phase,” with a group of volunteers reaching out to hundreds of School of Engineering alumni for feedback and guidance to prepare a plan for a more formalized campaign.
“All of this began by reflecting on a dream of doing something boldly different, and this visioning was inspired and guided by Dean Christodoulou,” said Burnett, the former CEO of Bohannan Huston who has remained actively involved with the School since earning his degrees. “I’m extremely honored to officially kick off Our Time: The Campaign for the UNM School of Engineering. It’s our time to shoot for the stars and attempt to raise $50 million over a six-year period, with the money raised going directly to support the School’s students and faculty. I encourage each of you to consider how you can give back financially to the School to enhance its worldwide impact and further release its untapped potential.”
The two main goals of the Our Time campaign are to empower students and promote faculty excellence. For students, this includes increasing the number and amount of scholarships, as well as fellowship opportunities for graduate students. For faculty, funding is sought to attract and keep highquality professors in the School of Engineering. Funding is being sought for endowed chair and professorships, which generate extra funds annually for the department and the professor holding the title that can be used for research or other programs to benefit students or the department.
The School of Engineering in recent years has attracted a variety of large gifts that have provided resources to students and faculty. In 2018, the School of Engineering received $3 million from the estate of alumnus Dana C. Wood which was the largest cash gift in the School of Engineering’s history. The largest part of the gift, $1.5 million, went toward the 8,000-square-foot Dana C. Wood FSAE Racing Lab and Garage. Another part of the gift, $500,000, went toward the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering for the Dana C. Wood Materials and Structures Lab. Finally, $1 million was used to create an endowed position within the Department of Civil Engineering, which will be named the Dana C. Wood Chair for Advanced Construction Materials and Technologies. The position and funds will be used for advanced construction and materials technologies, including 3D concrete printing.
More recently, alumnus Doug Campbell made a $5 million pledge, which is the largest cash gift pledge to the School of Engineering and the 12th largest for UNM to create the Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. Read more about this gift on Page 6.
Learn more about Our Time: The Campaign for the UNM School of Engineering at ourtime.unm.edu.
PROMISE FOR THE FUTURE
Alumnus Doug Campbell pledges $5 million to create the Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
A $5 million cash pledge from Douglas Campbell, an alumnus of the department and CEO and co-founder of Solid Power, a Colorado-based all-solid-state electric vehicle battery developer, will create the Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.
The pledge became official in March 2022.
Gerald May was a longtime professor in the department, School of Engineering dean and UNM president. The department will be renamed upon final payment of the pledge, no later than Dec. 31, 2026.
The $5 million pledge is the largest cash gift pledge to the School of Engineering and the 12th largest for UNM, according to the UNM Foundation records. The Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering will also be the first endowed department in UNM history.
Campbell earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UNM in 2001, then a master’s degree from the department the next year. Although his degrees are in engineering, he knew early on that his passions were more aligned in the area of entrepreneurship, and he credits a professor he had, Gerald May, with helping him with that realization.
“Upon graduating with my bachelor’s degree, I hesitated to pursue a career in civil engineering,” Campbell said. “I consulted with Dr. May, as I respected him immensely and considered him a mentor of sorts. He encouraged me to pursue a graduate degree as a means of exploring other career opportunities. By following that advice, I had placed myself on a much different career trajectory that ultimately positioned me to become a successful entrepreneur. That turned out to be very sage advice.”
Campbell is the founder and CEO of Solid Power, a Louisville, Colorado -based company that develops all solid-state, high-energy and safe rechargeable batteries for the electric vehicle market. He previously co-founded and was CEO of Roccor, LLC, which specializes in innovative, high-performance, deployable structures and thermal management solutions for satellite and terrestrial military and commercial markets. Roccor was sold to Redwire Space in 2020, while Solid Power recently became a publicly traded company.
Campbell’s donation will create an endowment, which will generate funds in perpetuity that will go toward a variety of needs in the department, at the discretion of the department chair. These needs include recruiting students to the department; supporting current students, including funding to help send them to professional conferences; funding to attract and retain faculty; and upgrading equipment and facilities to ensure the department stays up to date with current technology and competitive with peer institutions.
Mahmoud Taha, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, said that his department will benefit greatly from this donation, helping it accomplish bold goals that have been set, in particular the “12 in 12” initiative Taha established in 2018 to raise $12 million in 12 years.
After more than two decades as a faculty member at UNM, Sang M. Han is taking on a new role as chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
Since 2000, he has been a faculty member in the department, joining after a brief stint in the private sector. His primary areas of research are materials engineering for solar photovoltaic (PV) reliability, instability-driven semiconductor quantum materials engineering, and random photonics for structural color rendition and radiative cooling.
A native of South Korea, some members of his family came to the U.S. in the 1960s, with his immediate family settling in Southern California in 1985. After high school, he attended University of California, Berkeley. He earned his bachelor’s in chemical engineering from there in 1993.
He then decided to join a company in thriving Silicon Valley, working briefly as a process engineer for Lam Research, a semiconductor company. The entry-level experience helped him realize that he wanted to continue more intellectual pursuits with a graduate degree. He then enrolled in the University of California, Santa Barbara, earning his Ph.D. in 1998.
After graduating, he rejoined Lam until he found a faculty position, which happened to be at The University of New Mexico. Having lived in bustling California and working in the private sector, he experienced a cultural shift, he said.
One way that Han has stayed connected to the high-energy world of industry is by becoming an entrepreneur himself. Since 2016, he has been chief technology officer of the startup Osazda Energy LLC, a company that generated out of his research on advanced metallization technologies. Osazda’s technology increases the durability of solar cells against stress-induced cracks. In 2018, he was named the STC.UNM (now UNM Rainforest Innovation) Innovation Fellow for commercializing this technology.
He has also had a variety of leadership roles at UNM. Since 2014, he was associate chair of the department and directed the Nanoscience and Microsystems Engineering Program. Since 2015, he has held the title of Regents Professor.
Han said he sees leadership as the opportunity to give back to the academic community.
“I always consider it a service position,” he said. “I want to help colleagues and raise the profile of our department nationally.”
As chair for the next four years, Han has three main goals. “First, I want to focus on enrollment growth. I know it is not a panacea, but I want to understand effective ways to increase enrollment as well as retain our current students. We currently lose a substantial number between the first and second year,” he said. Second, he wants to make sure the department is wellprepared for the next ABET evaluation, which takes place in 2023. And finally, he wants to make sure early career faculty have the support they need to make it through the tenure process and beyond.
In his free time, Han enjoys learning electric blues and ballroom dancing. He enjoys spending time with his family, his fiancée Katie and his two sons, who are 20 and 18.
“I ALWAYS CONSIDER IT A SERVICE POSITION,” HE SAID. “I WANT TO HELP COLLEAGUES AND RAISE THE PROFILE OF OUR DEPARTMENT NATIONALLY.”
Read more about Sang M. Han at engineering.unm.edu
