Three Auburn Engineering faculty members named Ginn Faculty Achievement Fellows
Published: Aug 19, 2026 11:00 AM
By Joe McAdory
From left, Missie Smith (industrial and systems engineering), Ali Khosravi (civil and environmental engineering) and Cassandra Porter (chemical engineering).
Three Auburn Engineering junior faculty members, Cassandra Porter, Missie Smith and Ali Khosravi, were named Ginn Faculty Achievement Fellows, effective August 17.
The Ginn Faculty Achievement Fellowship recognizes and rewards junior faculty in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering who receive prestigious young investigator awards, including the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER, Department of War, Department of Energy or National Institutes of Health.
“Research excellence is built by faculty who are willing to pursue ambitious ideas and address complex challenges,” said Mario Eden, dean of engineering. “The accomplishments recognized through the Ginn Faculty Achievement Fellowship demonstrate the innovation, determination and talent that define Auburn Engineering.”
Porter, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, earned a five-year, $875,000 U.S. Department of Energy Early CAREER Award in February for her project, "Elucidating Operational and Chemical Factors Affecting the Function of Novel Polymeric Brush Active-Layer Membranes for Lithium Recovery from Aqueous Solutions." The research explores how membrane chemistry and operating conditions influence ion selectivity and aims to improve the recovery of lithium and other critical materials from water sources.
Smith, assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, earned a five-year, $599,999 NSF CAREER Award in June for research examining how augmented reality interfaces affect human decision-making, perception and performance. Her project will develop the "Visual Integration Framework" to help researchers and engineers better understand how different augmented reality formats influence attention, workload and human behavior.
Khosravi, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, earned a five-year, $599,940 NSF CAREER Award in July for research focused on developing adaptive foundation systems for Alabama’s expansive clay soils. The project combines geotechnical engineering, additive manufacturing and structural testing to create 3D-printed lattice structures that accommodate soil movement and reduce damage to infrastructure.
Porter, Smith and Khosravi join 21 current Auburn Engineering faculty members previously recognized as Ginn Faculty Achievement Fellows for outstanding early-career research achievements.
They include: Bryan Beckingham (chemical engineering), Lauren Beckingham (civil and environmental engineering), Pengyu Chen (materials engineering), David Roueche (civil and environmental engineering), Robert Pantazes (chemical engineering), Jack Montgomery (civil and environmental engineering), Vrishank Raghav (aerospace engineering), Anh Nguyen (computer science and software engineering), Panagiotis Mistriotis (chemical engineering), Xiaowen Gong (electrical and computer engineering), Nicholas Tsolas (mechanical engineering), Siyuan Dai (mechanical engineering), Yin Sun (electrical and computer engineering), Davide Guzzetti (aerospace engineering), Tin Nguyen (computer science and software engineering), Sathya Aakur (computer science and software engineering), Brendon Allen (mechanical engineering), Nicoletta Fala (aerospace engineering), Michael Howard (chemical engineering), Mehdi Sadi (electrical and computer engineering) and Jean-Francois Louf (chemical engineering).
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