Faculty Directory

Ghodssi, Reza

Ghodssi, Reza

Herbert Rabin Distinguished Chair in Engineering
Former Director, Institute for Systems Research (2009-2017)
Executive Director of Research and Innovation
Fischell Institute Fellow
Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Institute for Systems Research
Maryland Energy Innovation Institute
Fischell Department of Bioengineering
Materials Science and Engineering
Brain and Behavior Institute
MATRIX Lab
Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices
2232 Kim Building

Reza Ghodssi is the Herbert Rabin Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Director of the MEMS Sensors and Actuators Lab (MSAL) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the Institute for Systems Research (ISR) at the University of Maryland (UMD). He is also affiliated with the Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BIOE), the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices (Fischell Institute), the Maryland NanoCenter, the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute (MEII), and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at UMD. Dr. Ghodssi's research interests are in the design and development of micro/nano/bio devices and systems for chemical and biological sensing, small-scale energy conversion and harvesting with a strong emphasis toward healthcare applications.

Dr. Ghodssi was director of the Institute for Systems Research (ISR) for eight years (2009-2017). During this time, he launched a number of interdisciplinary initiatives aimed at enhancing the impact of ISR research efforts on society while building a more interactive faculty, staff and student community across different disciplines in the institute. These efforts include the launch of the Maryland Robotics Center (MRC) targeted at advancing robotic systems, underlying component technologies, and applications of robotics through research and educational programs that are interdisciplinary in nature and based on a systems approach. Dr. Ghodssi is the founding co-director of the Brain and Behavior Initiative (BBI) aiming at revolutionizing the interface between engineers and neuroscientists by generating novel tools and approaches to understand complex behaviors produced by the human brain. Dr. Ghodssi’s continuous efforts in reaching out to alumni and industry colleagues resulted in a large number of industry-sponsored monthly seminar series as well as annual fellowships for graduate students and post-doctoral associates to attend conferences and an active industry-oriented mentoring ecosystem in the Systems Engineering Education program in the institute. Dr. Ghodssi served as the President-elect of the Transducer Research Foundation (TRF) from 2020 until 2022. Since June 2022, he has been serving as the new President of TRF. The TRF is a nonprofit organization in the United States whose mission is to stimulate research in science and engineering, with emphasis on technologies related to transducers, microsystems, and nanosystems, and to foster the exchange of ideas and information between academic, industrial, and government researchers.

Dr. Ghodssi's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Army Research Office (ARO), National Science Foundation (NSF), and R.W. Deutsch Foundation. He served as a chairman of the MEMS and NEMS Technical Group at the American Vacuum Society (AVS) from 2002 to 2004. Dr. Ghodssi also served as the Technical Program Committee chair for the 2020 Solid-State Sensors, Actuators, and Microsystems Workshop (Hilton Head 2020) and the General Chair for the Hilton Head Workshop in 2022 (Hilton Head 2022). He was chair of the 9th International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS 2009) and the 2012 NSF Workshop on Micro, Nano, Bio Systems. He also served as the Americas Technical Program Committee chair of IEEE SENSORS 2010, 2011 and 2012. He chaired the committee for the Denice Denton Emerging Leader ABIE Award sponsored by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) and Microsoft from 2007 until 2016. Dr. Ghodssi was also the lead organizer and chair of the inaugural Denice Denton Emerging Leaders Workshop 2016 held in Madison, Wisconsin, focused on helping mid-career faculty (women and men) develop knowledge, skills, strategies, and critical networks.

Dr. Ghodssi is a University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, a Fellow of IEEE, AVS, and ASME, has over 160 journal publications and 349 refereed conference papers, and is the co-editor of the MEMS Materials and Processes Handbook published in 2011. He is an associate editor for the Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems (JMEMS) and Biomedical Microdevices (BMMD). He has obtained eight U.S. patents, with another ten pending. Dr. Ghodssi received the 2001 UMD George Corcoran Award, the 2002 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and the 2003 UMD Outstanding Systems Engineering Faculty Award. He was among 100 of the nation's outstanding engineers invited to attend the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium in 2007 and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) EU-U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium in 2010. Dr. Ghodssi was the co-founder of the MEMS Alliance in the greater Washington area and is a member of the MRS, ASEE and AAAS societies.

Honors and awards

Fellows

•    Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2015)

•    American Vacuum Society (2015)

•    American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) (2015)

 Young faculty awards

•    NSF CAREER Award (2002)

University of Maryland Awards

•    Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award, University of Maryland (2014-2015)

•    Outstanding Systems Engineering Faculty Award, Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland (2003)

•    George Corcoran Award, ECE Department, University of Maryland (2001)

 

Design and development of microfabrication technologies and processes in micro/nano/bio devices and systems for chemical and biological sensing, small- scale energy conversion and harvesting with a strong emphasis toward healthcare applications.


Joshua Levy Honored With Clark Doctoral Fellows Mid-Career Award

Joshua Levy is a recipient of this year’s Clark Doctoral Fellows Mid-Career Award

Dropping an anchor for better GI tract disease treatment

UMD's new spring actuator, microneedle innovations bring therapeutic ingestible capsules for GI tract diseases closer to reality.

Symptoms all in your head—or in your gut? Maybe a little of both.

UMD researchers are building an ingestible capsule that can monitor and model gut microbiome serotonin activity and help demystify the “gut-brain axis.”

Hanrahan, Waits, Ghodssi paper selected as JMM 'Highlight of 2014'

Raceways fabrication technique caps 25 years of microball bearing research for Ghodssi research group.

UMD Researchers Bridge Gap between Microelectronics, Biological Systems

“Electronic modulation of biochemical signal generation” published in Nature Nanotechnology

Department of Energy renews NEES EFRC for four years

The center develops highly ordered nanostructures that offer a unique way of looking at the science of energy storage.

Six graduate students participating in UMD-Trento research exchange

The program is part of a broad partnership between Maryland and Trento, Italy.

Rubloff, Ghodssi featured in JVST-A special issue

The Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the American Vacuum Society.

Micro-turbine research on cover of Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering

Ghodssi, Hanrahan and colleagues document the efficacy of using integrated retainer rings in tiny MEMS turbines.

Micro-turbo-generator research featured in Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems

Researchers from MSAL produce the first demonstration of an integrated permanent-magnet micro-turbo-generator supported on micro-ball bearings.

Rubloff Co-Authors Major DoE Report on Emerging Energy Technologies

Publication focuses on opportunities in mesoscale science.

Ph.D. candidate Brendan Hanrahan wins silver medal in ARL competition

Student presented his dissertation work on friction, wear, and lubrication of micro-scale ball bearing systems.

Student team wins best paper award at Mid-Atlantic Micro/Nano Alliance Symposium

The students are part of the MEMS Sensors and Actuators Laboratory.

Preventing Costly, Life-Threatening Catheter Infections

Deutsch Foundation-sponsored Clark School research offers multi-pronged attack on major medical problem.

Rubloff Talks Atomic Layer Deposition with C&EN

Article on thin films also highlights work of MSE grad student Konstantinos Gerasopoulos.

Systems Researchers Partner with Trento, Italy

Joint efforts to target bioengineering, renewable energy, nanomaterials, microsystems, education.

Gerasopoulos Wins Dean's Doctoral Research Award

Grad student takes 1st place and $1500 prize.

Gerasopoulos Wins MSE Graduate Research Award

Student recognized for work on nanoscale, virus-templated batteries.

Bad Virus Put to Good Use: Breakthrough Batteries

Virally structured nano-electrodes boost energy capacity tenfold.

Gerasopoulos Wins Best Poster Award at Micro/Nano Alliance Symposium

Student presents work on microfabricated energy storage devices made with biological templates.

New Battery Research Highlighted by Discovery News, Nanowerk

Viruses used as structural template for lithium ion battery components.

Graduate Student Delivers Micro/Nano Seminar at MIT

Konstantinos Gerasopoulos discussed new virus-based nanomanufacturing technology.

MSE Affiliate, Collaborator Named Director of ISR

Ghodssi to take office October 1.

NanoCenter Improves Energy Storage Options

Maryland NanoCenter researchers create new device to store electrical energy.

Paper Named 2008 'Highlight' by Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering

Reza Ghodssi co-authors paper describing major microbattery breakthrough.

Advance in Creating in Vitro Programmable Biological Microfactories

Research team includes Bentley, Ghossi, Payne, Rubloff.

$2M NSF Grant for "Bacterial Communication"

Cellular and biomolecular engineering research to focus on biofunctionalized devices.

$1 Million For Nano-Bio Initiative

Deutsch Foudation will fund Clark School bioengineering research on the nanoscale.

Crab Nano-Sensor Detects Dangerous Substances

A material found in crab shells is part of a new sensor system.

Toshiba's Tomohiro Iguchi arrives as ISR Visiting Scientist

August 2004—Researcher will be working on microelectronics process technology.

  • Fellow, 2015

  • Fellow, 2015

  • Fellow, 2015