Three Watson College faculty promoted to distinguished ranks

Three Binghamton University faculty — all from the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science — have been promoted to the ranks of distinguished faculty, including two to distinguished professor and one to distinguished service professor.

Promotion to distinguished professor is the highest faculty rank that SUNY awards, and it is reserved for those who have achieved national or international prominence and an exemplary reputation within their discipline. Distinguished service professors are recognized for their distinctive contributions and outstanding service to the University community, department and school in support of the University’s multi-faceted teaching, research and service mission.

The three professors join 35 other active Binghamton faculty holding the distinguished, distinguished teaching or distinguished service titles.

“We are immensely proud of what these professors have accomplished,” said Watson College Dean and Distinguished Professor Krishnaswami “Hari” Srihari. “The appointment to distinguished rank is bestowed upon faculty who epitomize the excellence of SUNY. This achievement recognizes their significant contributions to Binghamton University, Watson College and the wider academic community. They are leaders on our campus for students, faculty and staff, and they inspire all of us to shape our world for the better. I am honored to serve our college alongside them.”

Here are brief synopses of their careers, their thoughts about achieving distinguished rank and thoughts from President Harvey Stenger on their promotions.

Mohammad T. Khasawneh

Chair and Distinguished Professor of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering

Khasawneh’s research is focused on the novel application of systems engineering to transform healthcare systems into high-performance environments that produce better patient outcomes at lower costs. His work is applied in ways that lead to optimal healthcare, including more efficient use of hospital resources; better outpatient scheduling; streamlined patient flow; improved patient satisfaction; reduced hospital-acquired conditions (e.g., infections and patient falls) through predictive analytics; and improved clinical, operational and financial performance using advanced data science methods.

His scholarly activities have been published in peer-reviewed journals, presented at leading conferences and yielded patents. His excellence as an academician in health systems engineering has resulted in many invited presentations and keynote addresses. He has published over 65 high-impact journal articles, 119 fully refereed conference publications, 101 conference abstracts and presentations, and 51 technical reports and white papers.

Through research partnerships with more than 15 hospital systems and healthcare organizations, he has generated over $15 million in external funding and over $40 million in in-kind software/equipment grants to improve teaching and instructional laboratories.

Working with experts across the globe, his research continues to address the growing societal need both nationally and globally for transformed healthcare systems that embrace patient-centered care, optimized operations, quality, safety and equity at lower costs.

He is a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the University Award for Excellence in International Education and the University Award for Outstanding Graduate Director.

“I am truly very honored and humbled to have received this promotion to the highest faculty rank in SUNY,” Khasawneh said. “I owe this significant milestone to my amazing family, the inspirational leaders that I know and work with, our world-class faculty and staff team, my incredibly dedicated students and alumni, and my collaborators here and around the world. In my view, being in academia is one of the most noble lines of work in today’s world, not only because it gives you the opportunity to impact others, but also to literally change their lives. To me, this promotion is the ultimate badge of responsibility to continue my journey of making an impact on the lives of our students. Again, working with such great teams and colleagues — at the department, college, university levels, and beyond — has definitely made this a humbling experience and I am deeply grateful to have received this promotion.”

Stenger hailed Khasawneh as “a path-breaking scholar in the areas of healthcare systems engineering, operations management and data science who has changed the face of healthcare systems, and thus the quality of life for those both providing and accessing healthcare. He has pioneered the way society thinks of healthcare systems, making them more efficient and effective.”

Weiyi Meng

Chair and Distinguished Service Professor, Computer Science

Meng has an extraordinary record as a teacher, researcher, scholar and leader in academia. Over the years, his service to his profession; colleagues in academia, on-campus and across the SUNY system; and to the field of computer science is remarkable.

Meng’s service-focused philosophy is based on being a good citizen and making a positive impact. Building on his intellectual capital as an outstanding academician, he has helped to organize and run over 100 conferences all over the globe. In addition, he serves on the editorial boards of prestigious archival/peer reviewed publications.

Over the past few decades, Meng has served his profession by reviewing research proposals for national and international organizations, he has given more than 60 invited talks and he has served as the program chair or the general chair for many conferences.

In addition to growing and leading one of the largest academic departments on campus, Meng’s commitment to service includes mentoring, strategic planning to building consensus, team-building and recognizing the excellence of his colleagues. As an excellent supportive and proactive leader, he has restructured his department and works effectively with all stakeholders, including graduate and undergraduate students, staff and faculty.

Meng has been at the vanguard of establishing and growing partnerships with leading institutions in other countries, and he was the pioneer in instituting collaborative academic programs with international universities.

“Professor Meng’s service crosses a variety of dimensions through his scholarship, his conference participation, as department chair and as an international ambassador,” Stenger said. “His service has benefited all whom he comes into contact with, and, in fulfilling our mission, positively impacts students.”

Meng said he is honored and humbled to receive this SUNY recognition: “It has been a great pleasure being part of Binghamton University and contributing to the betterment of this organization for the past 30 years. Whatever accomplishments I have achieved are also the result of tremendous support I received from my colleagues in the Computer Science Department, Watson College and the campus community.”

Kaiming Ye

Chair and Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Ye is one of the world’s leading scientists in advanced biomanufacturing. He is a fellow of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He is chair-elect of the Council of Chairs of Biomedical Engineering.

Ye pioneered human islet organoid development from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). His group is the first one that demonstrated the feasibility of generating functional human islets from PSCs. His work in 3D tissue bioprinting was featured in the February 2015 issue of Prism (ASEE). He also is one of the pioneers who designed fluorescence resonance energy transfer nanosensors for continuous glucose monitoring. His recent work on cancer immunotherapy led to the development of a new cancer immunotherapeutic vaccine. Ye has secured more than $42.67 million in grants (as PI or co-PI).

He has published one book as well as more than 90 high-impact, peer-reviewed research articles, book chapters and reports. He has chaired and co-chaired more than 10 international and national conferences and delivered more than 45 keynote, plenary and invited speeches in international and national conferences, and graduate seminars at more than 50 universities. As chair of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Binghamton, he has led its growth in rankings, research expenditures, and undergraduate and graduate programs.

“This is an honor to the University, Watson and our department,” Ye said. “I am lucky to be a professor surrounded by talented students and excellent staff, faculty and visionary academic leaders here at Binghamton.”

Stenger noted that “the breadth of Professor Ye’s research is impressive, and its innovative nature has earned for him an international reputation in not one but several areas. He has made important discoveries that have elevated the standards of scholarship in his field and made important contributions to other areas as well, notably medicine.”