Meet Our New Faculty

Surl-Hee (Shirley) Ahn
Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering

Ahn develops new techniques for molecular dynamics computer simulations to study proteins, biomolecules and biophysical phenomena for drug discovery and creating new materials for human health. She received her B.S. degrees in biochemistry and mathematics and her M.S. degrees in chemistry and mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and her doctorate in chemistry at Stanford University. She worked as a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Diego before joining UC Davis.

Camli Badrya
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Badrya aims to make aircraft more efficient and sustainable through aerodynamics. She uses a combination of fundamental and applied research to study flow control, unsteady aerodynamics, gust interactions for conventional and unconventional next-generation aircraft. She received her B.S. in aerospace engineering at Technion – Israel and her M.S. and Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. She worked as a junior research group leader and lecturer at the Technical University of Braunschweig before joining UC Davis

Christina Harvey
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Harvey works at the intersection of biology and engineering to study and model how birds control their flight to inspire the next generation of maneuverable and adaptable uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs). She received her B.Eng. in mechanical engineering from McGill University, her M.S. in zoology at the University of British Columbia and her Ph.D. in aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan. 

Hyoyoung Jeong
Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Jeong works at the interface of bio-integrated electronics and medical applications to develop wireless stretchable electronics such as e-tattoos for personalized healthcare monitoring. These devices are at the forefront of the next-generation wearables for humanmachine interface, telemedicine, mobile health and digital medicine. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Texas – Austin and worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Northwestern University before joining UC Davis.

Xianglong Wang 
Assistant Professor of Teaching, Biomedical Engineering

Wang is interested in integrating problem-based learning with core biomedical engineering principals and improving students’ engagement in bioinstrumentation courses. He received a B.S. in electrical and electronics engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a B.S. in biomedical engineering and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering and scientific computing at the University of Michigan. He started his career at Washington State University, where he won the 2022 Reid Miller Excellence in Teaching Award, before joining UC Davis.

Kari Watkins
Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Watkins focuses on making public transportation infrastructure more efficient, sustainable and healthy. She uses real-time transit information and traveler information to better understand and improve how people use systems ranging from regional trains and buses to bicycle paths and sidewalks. Watkins received her B.S. at the Georgia Institute of Technology and her M.S. at the University of Connecticut and spent ten years in industry as a transportation consultant before receiving her Ph.D. at the University of Washington. She was a faculty member at the Georgia Institute of Technology for 11 years before joining UC Davis.