Finding a new home at Lohr College of Engineering

Incoming freshmen aren’t the only newcomers to the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering this fall.

Since January, eight tenured-track and five nontenured track faculty members have joined the college with the majority of them arriving in August. In addition, there are three new staffers. Each are listed below by department and will be more fully profiled in the fall issue of Impulse, the college’s semi-annual print magazine.

Name, position, start date, prior position:

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

• Brad Schmidt, precision agriculture machinery research coordinator, October 2025, SDSU flight and classroom aviation instructor;

Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Eleftheria Efthymiou, civil, assistant professor, Jan. 5, assistant professor at the University of Texas at Tyler;
• Yiming Liu, civil, assistant professor, Aug. 17, postdoctoral fellow at Rice University.

Construction and concrete industry management

• Faruque Hossain, Beaver's Charitable Trust professor of practice, Aug. 17, chief estimator with GE in North Carolina;
• Gail Jacobsma, academic adviser and recruiter, Aug. 17, Arlington High School teacher;
• Rosalie Nelson, senior secretary, July 6, human resources, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe;
• Alan Sparkman, concrete industry management, associate professor/ program director, June 22, executive director of the Tennessee Concrete Association.

Electrical engineering/computer science

• Yongmin Baek, electrical engineering, assistant professor, Aug. 24, postdoctoral student at the University of Virginia;
• Kelsee Hartman, senior secretary, Aug. 24;
• Kaiyang Huang, electrical engineering, assistant professor, Aug. 17, doctoral student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville;
• Jason Sternhagen, electrical engineering, Metzger Endowed Professor of Practice, June 21, new position, previously research associate III and lecturer;
• Yangxiao, Bai, computer science, lecturer, Aug. 17, graduate research assistant at SDSU;
• Peiyu Li, computer science, assistant professor, Aug. 17, doctoral student at Utah State University;
• Xiangrui Xu, computer science, assistant professor, Aug. 22, doctoral student at Old Dominion University.

Mathematics and statistics

• Felix Gnettner, statistics, assistant professor, Jan. 5, postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State University;
• Wuzhe Xu, math, assistant professor, Aug. 17, visiting assistant professor, Purdue University;
• Melanie Kreul, senior secretary, October 2025, SDSU cashier’s office.

Mechanical engineering

• Teresa (Teri) Reif, senior secretary, May 11, dental assistant.