Fellows Directory

Niveen AbiGhannam

Current Fellow

Dr. Niveen AbiGhannam is a science communication researcher and educator whose work centers around the strategic and inclusive communication of technical knowledge. More specifically, her research seeks to understand individual, organizational, and social factors that can drive or hinder public engagement with STEM behaviors. She also examines the identities of publicly engaged scientists and engineers and the meanings that they associate with their engagement experiences. On the teaching front, Dr. AbiGhannam has taught Engineering Communication at UT since 2015.

Kristie J Loescher

Current Fellow

Dr. Loescher is a Professor of Instruction in the Management Department of the McCombs School of Business. Her professional and education background includes recognition as a Senior Certified Professional in human resources, as well as a Doctorate in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University. Prior to her career in academia, she earned a Masters of Public Health from the University of Michigan and worked in the healthcare industry for 15 years in the areas of quality assurance, utilization management, and clinical research.

Krishna Kumar

Current Fellow

Krishna Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the Civil, Architecture, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Krishna’s work involves developing exascale micro and macro-scale numerical methods for modeling natural hazards. Krishna also develops Scientific Machine Learning algorithms: Graph Network Simulators and Differentiable programming to accelerate numerical methods and solve optimization, design, and inverse problems.

Fernanda Leite

Current Fellow

Fernanda Leite is a Professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She holds the John A. Focht Centennial Teaching Fellowship in Civil Engineering. She is the past Chair of a University-wide Bridging Barriers research initiative called Planet Texas 2050. Her built environment research program sits at the interface of engineering and computing. She teaches courses on Building Information Modeling, Project Management and Economics, Construction Safety, and Sustainable Systems Engineering.

Karen M Landolt

Current Fellow

Karen Landolt is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Business, Government and Society Department and in the Department of Computer Science. She teaches Business Law, Behavioral Ethics, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property Law, and Negotiations. Her courses have a service-learning component, allowing students to use real-life problems and tasks to increase cultural awareness, learning, and retention. She previously received a Course-developer Award (2020-2022) from the Provost Experiential-Learning Initiative.

 

Navid Saleh

Current Fellow

Navid Saleh is an Associate Professor at the Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering department. He is an environmental engineering faculty member with a passion for teaching. His mission as an educator and researcher has been to engage with the community and co-create knowledge. He has developed modules utilizing problem-based learning (PBL) pedagogy, conducted detailed and systematic evaluation, and devoted himself to student learning at UT.

Nina Telang

Current Fellow

Nina Telang is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, and a Kilby Faculty Fellow. She is passionate about student success and well-being, and has implemented student success programs in her first and second-year courses.

Heidi Toprac

Current Fellow

Heidi is a Professor of Instruction in the Department of Finance and the Director of the Undergraduate Internship Program for McCombs. She is a recent recipient of The Texas Ten award, in recognition of the positive impact her teaching has had on the lives of her students. Her PTF project focused on enhancing personal financial literacy among students of all majors at UT.

Carlos Torres-Verdín

Current Fellow

Carlos Torres-Verdín received a M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. degree in Engineering Geoscience from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991. During 1991-1997, he held the position of Research Scientist with Schlumberger-Doll Research. From 1997-1999, he was Reservoir Specialist and Technology Champion with YPF (Buenos Aires, Argentina).

Kristina Zvinakis

Current Fellow