Five College of Engineering (CoE) faculty have been listed in the 2014 World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds. Noted faculty include: Ian Akyildiz, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Ye (Geoffrey) Li, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Mark Prausnitz, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Zhong Lin Wang, Materials Science and Engineering; and Younan Xia, Biomedical Engineering.

Thomson Reuters analyzes data using its “Web of Science and InCites platforms to determine which researchers have produced work that is most frequently acknowledged by peers.” The citation data was reviewed for the past 11 years to identify those who published the highest impact work. The five faculty members from the College of Engineering had highly cited papers ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field and year of publication. According to Thomson Reuters, “these researchers are, undoubtedly, among the most influential scientific minds of our time.”

Ian Akyildiz, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Akyildiz is an influential researcher in wireless networking. His lab has produced three papers among the 10 most popular articles published in IEEE Communication Society journals and four papers among the 10 most downloaded papers published in “Computer Networks” (Elsevier).

Ye (Geoffrey) Li, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Li’s research interests include statistical signal processing and communications. He has won the Stephen O. Rice Prize Paper Award in 2010 and WTC Wireless Recognition Award in 2013 from IEEE Communications Society.  He has published over 300 refereed journal and conference papers in addition to 25 granted patents.

Mark Prausnitz, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Working in the area of biophysical methods of drug deliver, Prausnitz is advancing microneedles from device design and fabrication through pharmaceutical formulation and pre-clinical animal studies through studies in human subjects. A major area of focus involves the use of microneedle patches to apply vaccines to the skin in a painless, minimally invasive manner.

Zhong Lin Wang, Materials Science and Engineering
Wang is a pioneer and world leader in nanoscience and nanotechnology. He has authored and co-authored six scientific reference and textbooks and over 800 peer reviewed journal articles. He coined and pioneered the field of piezotronics and piezo-phototronics. His discovery and breakthroughs in developing nanogenerators establish the principle and technological road map for harvesting mechanical energy from environment and biological systems.

Younan Xia, Biomedical Engineering
The current research of Xiaand his group centers on the design and synthesis of novel nanomaterials for a broad range of applications, including nanomedicine, regenerative medicine, cancer theranostics, tissue engineering, controlled release, catalysis, and fuel cell technology.

To see the full report on Highly Cited Researchers and the selection of the year’s Hottest Researchers, click here.