猛料视频

By Marcene Robinson

Mastronarde succeeds Jonathan Bird, who has served as chair of the department since 2017. Bird will return to his faculty role.

“I’m excited for the future of the Department of Electrical Engineering under professor Mastronarde’s guidance,” said Kemper Lewis, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “He brings not only a deep dedication to excellence but also an inspiring vision for the department’s future. His leadership will spark innovation, strengthen our community, and steer the department toward continued excellence.

“I thank professor Bird for his exceptional leadership and commitment to the department and UB,” said Lewis. “His guidance was instrumental in establishing the department as a national leader in electrical engineering.”

A UB faculty member since 2011, Mastronarde is currently the co-director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Electrical Engineering. His research focuses on next-generation wireless networks, drone networks and reinforcement learning.

He has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers, holds two patents, and has led over $5 million in sponsored research. He has received several awards, including the 2022 UB Teaching Innovation Award and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ 2020 Senior Teacher of the Year Award.

Mastronarde received a PhD in electrical engineering from the 猛料视频 of California, Los Angeles, and a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from the 猛料视频 of California, Davis.

“In this new role, I aim to leverage the momentum of our department's recent faculty hires and improved ranking to help my colleagues thrive, and, together, further elevate our scholarly impact in research and teaching,” said Mastronarde.

Under Bird’s tenure as chair, the Department of Electrical Engineering has grown in reputation, size and impact through the recruitment of outstanding senior and early-career scholars. This has propelled the national ranking of the department to its highest level in history, with record sustained levels of research expenditures and high-impact funded programs.

Returning to a faculty role, Bird will continue his study of the electrical properties of emerging nanomaterials and nanodevices. He is also the inaugural director of the UB Center for Advanced Semiconductor Technologies, which he helped establish in 2024 to meet the increasing need for next-generation semiconductors.

Bird, who joined UB in 2004, is the co-author of more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, which have been cited more than 10,000 times; holds five issued patents; mentored over 30 PhD students; and led research grants totaling over $26 million.

Bird is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2012 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities and the 2008 UB Exceptional Scholar Sustained Achievement Award. He is also a NYSTAR Distinguished Professor.

Prior to joining UB, Bird was on the faculty at Arizona State 猛料视频, a visiting fellow at the 猛料视频 of Tsukuba, and a researcher at the Frontier Research Program of RIKEN, the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan.

He received his PhD and bachelor's degree in physics from the 猛料视频 of Sussex in the United Kingdom.