The Cullen College of Engineering’s Electrical and Computer Engineering department recently welcomed two new faculty members.
Jiefu Chen served as a scientist for Weatherford International, an oil and gas company in Houston, before he joined the UH Cullen College of Engineering faculty. His research and development projects have focused on well logging methods including electromagnetic propagation resistivity, azimuthal resistivity and micro-resistivity as well as oil-based mud borehole imaging, acoustic logging, electromagnetic telemetry and electromagnetic short-hop communication. He earned his doctoral degree in electrical and computer engineering from Duke University.
Miao Pan was an assistant professor of computer science at Texas Southern University before he joined the UH Cullen College faculty. His work has focused on cognitive radio networks, cybersecurity and cyber-physical systems, and he served as director of the laboratory devoted to this research in his prior university role. In 2014, he earned the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Pan earned his doctoral degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Learn more about Chen and Pan in our videos and Q&A below!
Jiefu Chen, Assistant Professor
Q: How did you become interested in the STEM (science, technology, education and math) fields and what led you to study engineering?
A: When I was a young kid growing up in China, the government encouraged scientists to serve as role models. In the ’80s and ’90s, I think about 90 percent of children in China dreamed of becoming scientists. That was my first inspiration to pursue research and become a scientist.
I chose to major in engineering in college because engineers are people who can make something and literally change the world. I think that’s the most amazing thing about the field. And when I was a college student, I met several great professors who became real role models to me and gave me real inspiration.
Q: What brought you to the University of Houston to pursue a career in academia?
A: The University of Houston has a stellar reputation in the oil and gas field and the school is in the heart of Houston, the energy capital of the world.
When I first moved from North Carolina to Houston for my job at Weatherford International, I attended several conferences at UH. So, I felt a connection to UH before I joined the University as a faculty member. Also, UH has a vibrant campus. You can see talented students and there are almost daily activities relevant to my research.
Q: Can you tell us about your approach to teaching in the classroom and in the research lab?
A: I feel that when there is a lot of information or data sometimes students or researchers can get overwhelmed by the amount of information. So, in my ideal world, teachers show students practical applications of abstract theories.
The most important thing for me is that my students learn something new and something useful that they can apply to their future careers.
Q: What advice can you give to students taking your courses?
A: Because my courses will be heavily based on mathematics, computing and physics, they might not be easy – but they will be very rewarding. Students have the opportunity to learn a lot. I want to encourage students to raise questions at any time, to come see me in my office and to have discussions.
Q: Research is a large component of the academic culture at the University of Houston. How does your prior experience inform your future research plans?
A: The focus of my research includes computation and simulation for electromagnetic waves or other kinds of wave phenomena. It’s based on modeling or simulation, which can be applied to several different areas so there are a lot of opportunities to explore.
Because I have previous experience with the oil and gas industry and the integrated circuits industry, I want to do more research to bridge academia and the energy industry. I’d also like to collaborate with professors with all kinds of backgrounds and bring my industry experience to future collaborations.
Miao Pan, Assistant Professor
Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in academia?
A: When I was a graduate student in Beijing, I took a job teaching other college students, helping them prepare for English as a foreign language exams. During that experience, I had very positive interactions with m students and I started to see a future for myself in academia. I’m also drawn to academia because the field allows you the freedom to pursue the things you enjoy.
Q: What interested you in teaching at the University of Houston?
A: I wanted to teach at the University of Houston because, as one of the most prestigious schools in Texas, it has a lot of good students and researchers. There are a lot of talented students at UH and I believe I’ll be able to connect and have positive interactions with them. I also think the students at UH have the potential to contribute to my future research.
Q: What kind of research do you hope to pursue at UH?
A: I’m very excited by the University’s newly-established subsea program and I’d like to further explore underwater communication networks.
I’d also like to continue to working on cyber security. It’s a very big issue in the digital world and I imagine that we will continue to make big advances and combat issues over the next 20 to 30 years.
Q: Can you tell us about your approach to teaching in the classroom and in the research lab?
A: There are several principles that I try to follow while teaching. One principle is that you can teach everyone, regardless of background or experience. This is especially important at UH because we have such a diverse student body. Another philosophy is that you teach through interaction. I believe you need to adapt your teaching style depending on students’ strengths and weaknesses. If students understand what you’re explaining in class, you can speed up and if they don’t, you can slow down and explain concepts in more detail.
I am also a big proponent of the group project because each group includes a variety of students. Some students will take on leadership roles and other students have the opportunity to better understand the content. In this way, everyone is likely to benefit from the project and, in turn, everyone can benefit from the class.
Q: What would like your students to take away from your courses and research lab?
A: In an undergraduate course, I really want students to learn a specific technique or algorithm that they can use in the future. I would like students in my class to learn things that they can relate and apply to real life.
For graduate students, I think the most important thing is that they learn logical thinking and problem solving. If a student can learn something in terms of logical thinking, that student can build up their own ideas.