Department honors six ECE faculty
Michael Wu, ECE department head and the inaugural Thomas R. Brown Leadership Chair, uses funds endowed by the Thomas R. Brown Family Private Foundation to recognize exceptional faculty with fellowships.
Six faculty members from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona were awarded endowed chairs, professorships and fellowships in recognition of their research and teaching achievements.
Each faculty member was nominated by their colleagues and selected by an external panel of electrical and computer engineering experts from around the country. These appointments start July 1, 2025, and last for a three year term ending June 30, 2028.
Thomas R. Brown Family gift boosts expertise and growth
Three ECE faculty members, Tosiron Adegbija, Ming Li and Hao Xin are inaugural recipients of the Thomas R. Brown Endowed Fellowship, a fellowship made possible by a gift from the Thomas R. Brown Family Private Foundation.
“This is support for research and education spanning a wide spectrum of disciplines,” said Michael Wu, ECE department head and the inaugural Thomas R. Brown Leadership Chair.
ECE associate professor Tosiron Adegbija joined the U of A faculty in 2015 after earning a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Florida. Adegbija’s research focuses on low-power embedded systems designed for use in the Internet of Things and sustainable AI computing approaches that can improve performance.
ECE University Distinguished Professor Ming Li came to U of A in 2015 from a faculty position at Utah State University. Li received his doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2011. Li’s research areas encompass wireless systems and cybersecurity, with a focus on the security and privacy of networked intelligent systems, as well as vulnerabilities in sensing and machine learning applications.
ECE professor Hao Xin joined the faculty of U of A as an assistant professor in 2005. He received a PhD in physics from MIT in 2001. Xin’s research work focuses on high-frequency wireless technologies and applications, and novel materials that could be useful for wireless communication, sensing and energy harvesting.
Chairs and professorships recognize exceptional faculty
The committee also selected three additional ECE faculty members to hold department chairs and professorships. Marwan Krunz was named the Edward & Maria Keonjian Endowed Chair, Janet Meiling Roveda earned the Litton Industries John M. Leonis Distinguished Professorship and Bane Vasić received the Kenneth Von Behren Professorship.
“We are fortunate to have many exceptional faculty in our department, and I truly believe there are many more who deserve to be honored with named professorships,” said Wu.