Five Mechanical Engineering Faculty Promoted in 2021

The Department of Mechanical Engineering congratulates five faculty members who have been promoted in 2021—two tenured faculty and three professional-track faculty.

Dr. Katrina Groth was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in the department, effective July 1, 2021. Groth joined the department in June 2017. Her research and scholarship—which primarily focuses on complex engineering systems associated with energy (hydrogen, nuclear) and oil and gas pipelines—and her teaching, have already had a significant impact on the education and future careers of numerous undergraduate and graduate students. Since July 2018, she has served as the Associate Director for Research and Outreach for the Center for Risk and Reliability. She is also a recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award and the David Okrent Award for Nuclear Safety.

Dr. Mark Fuge was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, effective July 1, 2021. Fuge joined the department’s faculty in August 2014. His research and scholarship focuses on the intersection of engineering design and machine learning. Through his teaching, he has made a significant impact on the education and future careers of undergraduate and graduate students alike, and in particular, one of his first doctoral graduates is now an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He is a recipient of the DARPA Young Faculty Award and NSF CAREER Award.

The department’s three professional-track faculty promotions include Shengwei Zhu, promoted to Associate Research Professor and Hyuntae Kim and Daniel Bacellar, both promoted to Assistant Research Professors.

Published June 23, 2021