The Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing (MCEC) is welcoming new faculty in the chemical engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering departments for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Melis Duyar comes to the MCEC after serving as lecturer and associate professor at the University of Surrey (United Kingdom) since 2019.
She has a research background in heterogeneous catalysis for energy and environmental applications. Duyar’s research interests focus on the development of novel adsorbent materials for capturing carbon dioxide and catalytic materials for producing sustainable fuels and chemicals from carbon-based feedstocks. The mission of her lab is to engineer interfaces at the nanoscale, developing new catalysts to supply society with fuels and chemicals at lower energy and resource input requirements.
Prior to her academic appointment at the University of Surrey, Duyar worked at the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California as an associate staff scientist in the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis.
Duyar earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in earth and environmental engineering from Columbia University. She completed her postdoctoral research at Stanford University.
I’m very excited to become a part of this vibrant community, working alongside colleagues whose ground-breaking research I’ve been following for years, and getting to know the students who will be shaping the future of chemical engineering.
– Melis Duyar
Assistant Professor Hui Yang begins her career in academia after working the last four years at Ensurge, a California-based electronics manufacturing company, where she was a battery process integration engineer. Prior to working at Ensurge, Yang was a postdoctoral researcher at West Virginia University and the University of Massachusetts.
Yang’s research focus is understanding, predicting, and controlling matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels to provide the foundations of new material design for new energy technologies. Her primary research interests include designing and developing high-throughput experimentation platforms for Lithium-ion batteries, electrochemically driven carbon dioxide capture and separation, and photocatalysis.
Yang received her master’s degree in chemical engineering from Yanshan University. She earned her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
I am impressed by the strong focus of cutting-edge research, impactful faculty, and the vibrant and productive environment at the MCEC. As a researcher who works on battery technology, the Carolina Institute for Battery Innovation is the dream place to pursue advanced battery education, research and manufacturing for helping tackle the most pressing challenges in energy storage. I am honored to join them and become one of them.
– Hui Yang
Assistant Professor Xin Fang comes to the MCEC after serving in the same position at Mississippi State University since 2022. Fang’s research and field of interest include power system optimization, cyber-physical dynamic modeling, integrated optimization and dynamics, and electricity and transportation networks co-simulation.
Prior to entering academia, Fang was a senior researcher for five years at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. He was also a power systems engineer at GE Grid Solutions.
Fang currently serves as editor of IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, and IEEE PES Power Engineering Letters. He is also the current vice chair for the IEEE Power System Operation, Planning and Economics (PSOPE) Bulk Power Planning Subcommittee.
Fang received his master’s degree in electrical engineering from the China Power Research Institute. He earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee.
The focus of my research is grid resiliency and stability. This is particularly significant in the context of high penetration inverter-based resources that prevent or mitigate undesired service interruptions and blackouts. I am looking forward to collaborating with the faculty, researchers, and students in our college and university.
– Xin Fang
Behrooz Mirafzal
Professor Behrooz Mirafzal brings 20 years of experience in academia to the MCEC. He comes to Columbia from Kansas State University, where he has taught and performed research since 2011. He most recently served as the Louie T. Marshall Engineering Professor and electrical and computer engineering graduate program director. Mirafzal also established and directed the university’s Smart Power Electronics and Control Systems Group.
Mirafzal’s research focus and interests are smart inverters and power electronic applications in renewable energy systems and micro-grids. During his academia career, Mirafzal has received more than $7 million in research funding.
Mirafzal authored, "Power Electronics in Energy Conversion Systems" published by McGraw Hill. The textbook features theoretical and practical coverage of the power electronics and electric machines required for the dynamic and steady-state analysis of modern energy conversion systems. He has also authored or co-authored more than 150 IEEE journals and conference papers and holds five U.S. patents.
Mirafzal earned his bachelor's degree and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Isfahan University of Technology in Iran and Marquette University, respectively.
I am impressed by the University of South Carolina’s strong power electronics program, one of the best in the nation, which combines deep faculty expertise with impactful, forward-looking research. The collaborative environment and the emphasis on bridging theory with real-world applications make the college an exciting place for innovation and meaningful contributions.
– Behrooz Mirafzal
Shyuan (Jeffrey) Cheng
Shyuan (Jeffrey) Cheng begins his academia career as an assistant professor at the MCEC. As a graduate research assistant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he was part of the renewable energy and turbulent environment group. Cheng was also a lab teaching assistant for both heat transfer and fundamental fluid dynamics courses as well as a graduate student instructor for an experimental fluid mechanics course.
Cheng’s research focus is understanding turbulence-structure interactions, aimed at innovations for bio-inspired propulsor and energy harvesting devices. His research efforts are concentrated on assessing challenges in science and engineering, with a special emphasis on those influenced by environmental factors.
Cheng earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois.
What I’m most looking forward to is meeting with the talented students and faculty and contributing to an environment through my research and education. I’m particularly eager to bring my experience in fluid-structure interactions into the classroom and lab and explore new opportunities for interdisciplinary work.
– Shyuan (Jeffrey) Cheng
Ashwini Karmarker
Assistant Professor Ashwini Karmarker comes to the MCEC after serving as a postdoctoral researcher at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. She worked in the X-ray fuel Spray group in the Transportation and Power Systems division where her research focused on using x-ray diagnostics to study the impact of fuel properties on spray characteristics.
Karmarker’s area of specialty is aerospace engineering and her research interests include fluid mechanics, combustion instabilities and high-speed laser diagnostics. Her past research projects have examined the impact of turbulent and coherent fluctuations in the flow field on the pathways driving combustion instability in gas turbine engines, and investigating the influence of fuel properties on spray behavior in gas turbine engines.
Karmarker earned her master’s and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Columbia University and Penn State University, respectively.
Juliano Schorne-Pinto, who has been at the MCEC since February 2020, has been promoted to assistant professor. Schorne-Pinto started as a postdoctoral researcher and was most recently a research assistant professor working with Professor Ted Besmann, expanding experimental capabilities and leading multiple research projects.
Schorne-Pinto's research interests include a variety of advanced materials, including ceramics and alloys to nuclear fuels and molten salts. He has also developed thermodynamic databases as well as experimental work on radioactive and non-radioactive materials.
Schorne-Pinto received his master’s degree in materials engineering from Polytech Montpellier in France. He earned his Ph.D. in materials engineering from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse in 2020.
Teaching is and has been my passion, and I've been lucky enough to have this experience in multiple places, languages, and cultures. I'm thrilled to start this new path at the MCEC and be back again in the classroom to encounter curious and motivated minds who are the future of our society. Moreover, creating research opportunities for young students is essential for encouraging critical thinking and developing the workforce that our society urgently needs.
– Juliano Schorne-Pinto