New Faculty 2025-2026

Lisha Chen joins the faculty after having earned her PhD in electrical engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Chen studies the optimization and learning theory of multi-objective and multi-level learning, to explain the behavior and guide the design of scalable and generalizable algorithms, and to apply to large-scale machine learning and signal processing problems.

Chen’s research has been published in prestigious conferences and journals in machine learning and signal processing, including the Journal of Machine Learning Research (JMLR), Foundations and Trends in Signal Processing, Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML), and the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics (AISTATS). She has been honored with the National Scholarship of China, the IBM-AIRC Fellowship, and the IEEE Signal Processing Society Scholarship.

At Rochester, she will teach ECE 447: Introduction to Digital Image Processing Using Python in spring 2026.

• Undergraduate degree: BS, electrical engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
• Graduate degrees: MS, PhD, electrical engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Most recent appointment: PhD student, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Nam Cho joins the faculty after having served as a senior scientist II at Topcon Medical systems and postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard Medical School.

Cho’s research specializes in optical measurement systems including optical coherence tomography (OCT). He has designed, led, and performed multiple projects using optical imaging systems in response to clinical usefulness and basic science. His expertise and experiences spans, biomedical engineering, neuroscience, and auditory science.

His work has been published in notable journals including Scientific Reports.

At Rochester, Cho will continue to develop high-resolution optical measurement systems for imaging and vibrations of auditory sensory cells in excised or live cochleae. He aims to develop real-time, high-resolution, optic-based measurement systems to better understand the underlying biophysics of the auditory sensory system with a wide frequency range of normal hearing, damaged/aging hearing, as well as therapeutics recovery based on quantification of morphological and functional approaches.

• Undergraduate degree: BS, computer and communication engineering, Daegu University
• Graduate degrees: MS, PhD, electrical engineering and computer science, Kyungpook National University
• Most recent appointment: Senior Scientist II, Topcon Advanced Biomedical Imaging Lab

Rebecca Irwin joins the faculty after having served as a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University.

Irwin’s research explores how cells and tissues in the human body sense their physical environment and the loads they experience during daily activities like walking and running. These relationships between mechanical stimuli and cell responses can change with disease and injury. By using different material, mechanical, and imaging methods her goal is to better understand these relationships and develop new therapies to regenerate musculoskeletal tissues.

Irwin has been a recipient of a Stryker/ORS Women’s Research Fellowship and an ORS/Bethel Fellowship Grant.

At Rochester, Irwin’s lab aims to address knowledge gaps in orthopaedic mechanobiology using biomaterials and intravital imaging approaches. Her goal is to develop mechano-targeted therapies to improve tissue healing and prevent joint deterioration after injury.

• Undergraduate Degree: BS, bioengineering, State University of New York at Binghamton
• Graduate Degrees: MS, PhD, biomedical engineering, Cornell University
• Most recent appointment: Postdoctoral researcher, Cornell University

Katarina Nichols will join the faculty in January after earning her PhD in physics at the University of Rochester.

Nichols’ research seeks to improve the integrated hydrodynamic simulations the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) uses to model complex experiments. She looks for ways to improve LLE’s models on how far energy is transported into our individual targets. To do this, she uses supercomputers to run complex simulations using quantum-based theorems including a method called time-dependent density functional theory.

Nichols was awarded the University’s prestigious Donna Strickland Fellowship and the Horton Fellowship. Previously, she has served as an adjunct instructor for the class Physics 100: The Nature of the Physical World.

At Rochester, Nichols will teach several core undergraduate courses, including Introduction to Heat Transfer, Engineering Computation II, and CAD.

• Undergraduate degrees: BA in physics, BA in mathematics, State University of New York at Geneseo
• Graduate degree: PhD, physics, University of Rochester
• Most recent appointment: PhD student at the University of Rochester

Bernard (Barney) Ricca joined the faculty in May after serving as a research associate professor at the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience at the University of Colorado.

Ricca’s research interests include data science applied to social, behavioral, and health sciences, nonlinear time series analysis, and statistics teaching and learning. He has been recognized with an Outstanding Faculty Mentor award at the Upstate New York Statistics Conference (UPSTAT) and the Richard A. Meade Award by the Conference on English Education.

At Rochester, Ricca oversees a brand-new master’s program in healthcare data science and artificial intelligence that welcomes its first cohort this fall.

• Undergraduate degrees: BS in physics and BA in mathematics, University of Dallas
• Graduate degrees: MS in physics, University of Chicago; PhD in physics, University of Michigan
• Most recent appointment: Research associate professor at the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience at the University of Colorado

Barry Silverstein ’84 (optical engineering) joins the faculty after having served as the senior director and chief technology officer of optics and display in Meta’s Reality Labs.

While leading optics and display at Meta for seven years, Silverstein’s research focused on creating the world's smallest and most efficient visual imaging systems including uLED, LCoS, and laser scanning engines, novel lightweight high index of refraction materials, waveguides using volume holography, polarization volume holograms and surface relief gratings. Between his time at Meta, IMAX, and Kodak, Silverstein is a seasoned expert research and development of optical systems, laser projection, sensing, imaging/printing, space imaging, and optical recording.

Silverstein is a 2024 winner of an Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Scientific and Engineering Award for contributions to the design and development of the IMAX Prismless Laser Projector. He is responsible for 100 awarded US patents as well as multiple successful patent and technology license transfer programs.

At Rochester, Silverstein will drive applied research in augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, and artificial intelligence to support the Rochester community.

• Undergraduate degree: BS, optical engineering, University of Rochester
• Most recent appointment: Senior director and chief technology officer of optics and display in Meta’s Reality Labs

Xiangxiang Xu joins the faculty after having served as a postdoctoral associate at MIT.

Xu’s research focuses on the fundamental properties of information processing, an intersection of information theory and artificial intelligence, covering topics in statistical learning, machine learning theory, and representation learning.

His research has been published in top-tier conferences and journals, such as Journal of Machine Learning Research and IEEE Transactions on Information Theory and has won awards from both theory and application communities.

At Rochester, Xu will continue research on the fundamental theories of artificial intelligence and machine learning, enabling broader applications in scientific and engineering domains. He will teach CSC 442 Artificial Intelligence in the fall.

• Undergraduate degree: B.Eng, electronic engineering, Tsinghua University
• Graduate degree: PhD, electronic engineering, Tsinghua University
• Most recent appointment: Postdoctoral associate, MIT