{"id":15244,"date":"2012-08-01T15:07:53","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T20:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=15244"},"modified":"2016-07-28T14:33:43","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T19:33:43","slug":"new-chairs-bring-their-expertise-vision-to-civil-electrical-engineering-departments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/new-chairs-bring-their-expertise-vision-to-civil-electrical-engineering-departments\/","title":{"rendered":"New chairs bring their expertise, vision to civil, electrical engineering departments"},"content":{"rendered":"

The departments of Civil and Electrical Engineering at the University of Mississippi are under new management.<\/p>\n

Yacoub \u201cJacob\u201d Najjar is chair and professor of civil engineering. Ramanarayanan \u201cVish\u201d Viswanathan is chair and professor of electrical engineering. Along with decades of administrative expertise and academic vision, both men bring excitement and anticipation to their respective positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really liked the university people whom I met with during my first and second visits,\u201d Najjar said. \u201cStudents, faculty, staff and administrators were very friendly and easy to get along with. My family prefers to live in a college town, and Oxford offers us just that. Moreover, having a very beautiful campus is a major plus!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ramanarayanan 'Vish' Viswanathan<\/p><\/div>\n

Viswanathan said the rich tradition and history of Ole Miss and his long-term experience as a faculty member in a place comparable to the university motivated him to seek the position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe friendliness of the faculty, staff, the dean and other administrators was an appealing factor in my decision to come here,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the past few weeks, my interaction with the students here has been limited. Nonetheless, this experience has been nothing but positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Najjar\u2019s goals for the civil engineering department are to elevate the department\u2019s national and international standing by increasing the feasibility of faculty through excellence in research, teaching and service.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also want to create and maintain a happy civil engineering family by encouraging a very collegial work environment,\u201d Najjar said. \u201cFinally, I want to align the departmental strategic goals with those of the School of Engineering and the university in order to efficiently serve our community, the state and the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viswanathan\u2019s vision for the electrical engineering department is to increase the number of undergraduate students and to strengthen graduate programs and research.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy utilizing faculty expertise, the department will reach out to alumni, corporations and government sponsors to bring additional funds for research and education,\u201d Viswanathan said. \u201cBy working with the dean\u2019s office, together we will initiate efforts to attract students from targeted high schools and community colleges, and launch targeted international collaborations.\u201d<\/p>\n

A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Najjar served as interim chair and professor of civil engineering at Kansas State University prior to joining UM. His teaching awards and honors include the 2006 Midwest Section Outstanding Teaching Award from the American Society of Engineering Education and the 2012 Kansas State Commerce Bank Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award.<\/p>\n

\"Yacoub<\/a>

Yacoub 'Jacob' Najjar<\/p><\/div>\n

Najjar\u2019s research focuses on the application of artificial neural networks and computational mechanics to advance the civil infrastructure. His research on the interaction of soil and civil structures, transportation, geomechanics, geosynthetics and geoenvironmental systems has yielded more than 90 peer-refereed articles.<\/p>\n

A graduate of Southern Methodist University, Viswanathan was professor of electrical and computer engineering at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He also served as interim dean of the SIU\u2019s College of Engineering.<\/p>\n

A fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, his research areas include signal detection, wireless sensor networks and wireless communication. Viswanathan received an Outstanding Teacher Award from the ECE department in 2007 and the Outstanding College of Engineering Faculty Award in 2008, both at SIU.<\/p>\n

Viswanathan\u2019s wife, Rama, is a registered cardiac sonographer who enjoys working part time. The couple\u2019s older daughter, Priya, works for a bioengineering company in Chicago. Their younger daughter, Jaya, is studying chemical engineering at the University of Illinois.<\/p>\n

Najjar and his wife, Oana, have three sons: Danny, 19, a computer science major at Kansas State University; Adam, 6; and Noah, 4.<\/p>\n

When not at work, Najjar enjoys walking, swimming and visiting new places. Viswanathan\u2019s hobbies include watching Indian movies, listening to songs with his family, playing doubles tennis with friends and reading.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The departments of Civil and Electrical Engineering at the University of Mississippi are under new management. Yacoub \u201cJacob\u201d Najjar is chair and professor of civil engineering. Ramanarayanan \u201cVish\u201d Viswanathan is chair and professor of electrical engineering. Along with decades of administrative expertise and academic vision, both men bring excitement and anticipation to their respective positions.Read the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[765,1297],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew chairs bring their expertise, vision to civil, electrical engineering departments - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/new-chairs-bring-their-expertise-vision-to-civil-electrical-engineering-departments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New chairs bring their expertise, vision to civil, electrical engineering departments - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The departments of Civil and Electrical Engineering at the University of Mississippi are under new management. Yacoub \u201cJacob\u201d Najjar is chair and professor of civil engineering. Ramanarayanan \u201cVish\u201d Viswanathan is chair and professor of electrical engineering. Along with decades of administrative expertise and academic vision, both men bring excitement and anticipation to their respective positions.Read the story …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/new-chairs-bring-their-expertise-vision-to-civil-electrical-engineering-departments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-01T20:07:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-28T19:33:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Viswanathan-web-252x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Ole Miss News\",\"description\":\"The official source for University of Mississippi news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/new-chairs-bring-their-expertise-vision-to-civil-electrical-engineering-departments\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Viswanathan-web-252x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/new-chairs-bring-their-expertise-vision-to-civil-electrical-engineering-departments\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/new-chairs-bring-their-expertise-vision-to-civil-electrical-engineering-departments\/\",\"name\":\"New chairs bring their expertise, vision to civil, electrical engineering departments - Ole Miss News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/new-chairs-bring-their-expertise-vision-to-civil-electrical-engineering-departments\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-01T20:07:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-28T19:33:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/4515cb1b4f8a759552c0827c3df56430\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/new-chairs-bring-their-expertise-vision-to-civil-electrical-engineering-departments\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/4515cb1b4f8a759552c0827c3df56430\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e8e7562bf6d779d771ad8ce4cecd7ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15244"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40777,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15244\/revisions\/40777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}