Dr. Roseanna N. Zia, who has been on faculty at both Stanford University and Cornell University, has been named Associate Dean for Research and Dave Wollersheim Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Mizzou. Her appointment will be effective January 1, 2023, at which time she will bring to Mizzou Engineering her research in computational modeling of complex fluids, biological cells, and other soft matter.
“Dr. Zia has an outstanding record of excellence in research and scholarship,” said Noah Manring, Dean and Ketcham Professor. “We are delighted she will oversee our research activities and provide leadership and guidance as we move Mizzou Engineering into a new era of innovation and discovery.”
Dr. Zia received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology for development of theory in colloidal hydrodynamics under Professor John F. Brady. Subsequently, she conducted post-doctoral study of colloidal gels at Princeton University in collaboration with Professor William B. Russel. Prior to Stanford, Dr. Zia was on faculty at Cornell University.
“I am thrilled to be joining the Mizzou College of Engineering and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,” Zia, BS ME 95, said. “As a Missouri native and Mizzou alum, it is an honor to come home and lead the exciting new research mission unfolding in the College of Engineering. As Associate Dean for Research, my goal is to advance this new mission, guided by the MizzouForward initiative, driven by outstanding faculty and powered by the best engineering students in the region.”
Dr. Zia is currently a tenured professor in Chemical Engineering at Stanford with a courtesy appointment in Mechanical Engineering, where she focuses on developing micro-continuum theory for structure-property relationships of flowing suspensions, elucidating the mechanistic origins of the colloidal glass transition, and multi-scale computational modeling of reversibly bonded colloidal gels. More recently, her research group has begun to unlock the fundamental connections between colloidal-scale physics and life-essential processes in biological cells using theoretical colloid physics, biological modeling, and high-fidelity computational models. Her group works to combine these areas of research to shed light on the matter/life nexus.
Dr. Zia’s work has earned international recognition. She’s received two Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) awards, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers. She has also been honored with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Director of Research Early Career Award, the ONR Young Investigator award, the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, the NSF BRIGE Award, the Publication Award from the Society of Rheology, the Engineering Sonny Yau (’72) Teaching Award, and the Tau Beta Pi Teaching Honor Roll Award. Most recently she was named an Otterson Faculty Fellow at Stanford. She has delivered more than 80 invited, keynote, and plenary talks, and several award lectures in the U.S. and internationally.
Dr. Zia serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Rheology, and on the Advisory Boards of the AIChE Journal and the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science.
Dr. Zia will replace Dr. Giovanna Guidoboni, who earlier this year accepted the position of dean of engineering at the University of Maine.