Faculty Affairs
New Faculty
Fall 2025
Dr. Andrew Tricker
Dr. Andrew Tricker will be joining as Assistant Professor in Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering. He has a BS, MS, and PhD from Georgia Tech and has worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Lawrence Berkeley National lab and is currently a AAAS Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation. He plans to study electrochemical upgrading of biomass derivatives, combine experiments and physics-based modeling within magnetic induction heated catalyst beds, and develop quantified scaling relations for mechanocatalytic depolymerization reactions to create valuable products from waste polymers.
Dr. Jingran Sun
Dr. Jingran Sun earned his Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering, along with two master’s degrees in Statistics and Construction Engineering and Project Management from UT Austin. Dr. Sun’s research focuses on enhancing infrastructure resilience through simulation, artificial intelligence, and optimization techniques, addressing challenges such as cascading failures in interdependent systems and effective resource allocation for disaster management.
Dr. Xiaomin Lin
Dr. Xiaomin Lin is joining the Department of Electrical Engineering in Fall 2025 as a faculty member specializing in robotics and AI. His research sits at the intersection of perception and autonomy, focusing on developing intelligent robotic systems for underwater exploration, environmental monitoring, and edge AI deployment. At USF, he will lead the ERA Lab (Embodied Robotic Automation), advancing perception-enabled autonomy for real-world robotic systems.
Dr. Yaodan
Dr. Yaodan Hu will be joining the Department of Electrical Engineering this Fall 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Instruction. Her research interests are focused on the security and privacy of cyber-physical systems and power grids and her teaching emphasizes in connecting theoretical concepts to practical applications and building a flexible learning environment.
Dr. Alexander Semenov
Dr. Alexander Semenov will join in fall 2025 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering at the University of South Florida in Fall 2025. Dr. Semenov is currently a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, University of Florida. Dr. Semenov received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, and a M.S. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Saint-Petersburg State Electrotechnical University, Russia. His research and teaching interests include network science, social media analytics, design of efficient algorithms, analysis of large datasets, optimization, and machine learning.
Dr. Sarper Aydin
Dr. Sarper Aydin will join in fall 2025 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering at University of South Florida. Dr. Aydin received a B.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey in 2017. Before joining Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA in 2019, where he obtained his Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering, Sarper was at Lehigh University, PA as a PhD student. Dr. Aydin’s research is focused on decentralized control of multi-agent systems and game-theoretic learning with applications to assignment problems in autonomous robot teams.
Dr. Andrea D'Ambrosio
Dr. Andrea D'Ambrosio earned his Ph.D. in Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Space Science from the University of Rome. He has specialized training and practical research experience in Space and Astronautical Engineering. With an impressive publication record and prior research positions at MIT and the University of Arizona, he will enhance our new Aerospace Engineering program by contributing to the development of specialized space-related courses and research initiatives.
Dr. Jeongwon Kim
Dr. Jeongwon Kim earned his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Previously, he held a research position at the DEVCOM Army Research Lab, where he gained valuable insights into defense research priorities. With significant expertise in combustion, he aims to establish a propulsion research laboratory at USF, which is essential for the success of the new Aerospace Engineering program.
Dr. Xiaoyu Liu
Dr. Xiaoyu Liu earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, where he is currently a postdoctoral researcher. His work, supported by NASA, focuses on advanced human-automation integration to create resilient, smart space habitats for future deep space missions. Dr. Liu's research addresses infrastructure resilience challenges in terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments, providing a valuable opportunity to enhance the integration of computer vision, machine learning, and mathematical modeling within USF's Aerospace Engineering program.