Wilkes University Names Four Inaugural SOAR Center Faculty Fellows

Wilkes University Names Four Inaugural SOAR Center Faculty Fellows

Wilkes University's Synergistic Opportunities for Academic Research (SOAR) Center has selected four faculty fellows for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Established in 2025 through the Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, the SOAR Center aims to strengthen the University's research capacity, expand strategic partnerships with industry and community organization and increase opportunities for externally funded research and innovation.

The SOAR Faculty Fellows Program is a key initiative of the Center, designed to support faculty in developing external collaborations, pursuing competitive research funding, engaging students in experiential learning and establishing sustainable partnerships that advance the University's research mission.

Professors David R. Carey, Mohsen Ghamari, Asif Abdullah Khan and Jeffrey A. Stratford were selected as the SOAR Faculty Fellows for the 2026-2027 academic year. Three independent external reviewers from academia and industry evaluated the applications based on the applicant's intellectual merit, alignment with the SOAR mission, potential to partner and create broader impacts and ability to develop research and grants. Throughout their fellowship, faculty members will participate in professional development, mentorship, research development and networking activities while working toward measurable outcomes.

Carey serves as an associate professor of computer science in the Math, Physics and Computer Science Department. As a SOAR Faculty Fellow, Carey plans to advance applied research in AI-enabled, GPU-accelerated diagnostics and prognostics for manufacturing, maintenance and automated test environments. Carey's work will focus on combining real-time sensor and test data, high-speed signal processing, machine learning, prognostic health management and AI-assisted maintenance decision support to detect faults earlier, identify degradation trends and improve engineering decisions. He also plans to expand collaboration and form partnerships with regional manufacturers, defense and technology organizations and industry partners to build competitive external research proposals and long-term opportunities in intelligent testing, predictive maintenance and advanced manufacturing.

Ghamari serves as an associate professor of mechanical engineering in the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department. Throughout his SOAR fellowship, Ghamari plans to expand his research in thermal-fluid engineering by developing partnerships with regional industry and external organizations. His work will focus on applied problems in fluid flow, heat transfer, thermal management, energy efficiency, combustion and related systems, using computational fluid dynamics alongside experimental methods. A major goal of his fellowship is to identify companies in northeastern Pennsylvania whose technical needs align with these capabilities and to develop those connections into collaborative research projects and external funding proposals.

Khan serves as an assistant professor of electrical engineering in the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department. Khan plans to use artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of advanced materials for sensors that generate electricity from motion and vibration. His research will combine computational predictions with laboratory experiments to develop energy-harvesting devices and self-powered sensors, with potential applications in wearable health monitoring, aerospace and smart infrastructure. He will pursue new partnerships with industry and academic collaborators to connect this research with practical engineering needs and develop collaborative funding proposals. His outreach to prospective partners will also seek opportunities for student site visits, internships and joint mentoring, helping students gain experience translating laboratory discoveries into useful technologies.

Stratford serves as a professor of biology and chair of the Biology and Earth System Sciences Department. Stratford's goal as a SOAR Faculty Fellow is to make the University a resource hub for local and regional conservation and natural resource organizations. By reinvigorating the Wilkes Institute for Environmental Science and Sustainability (WIESS), he will work with the community to document, conserve and rebuild the region's remarkable biodiversity. He will help coordinate expertise at Wilkes University in areas such as ecological surveys and engineering, with the organizations that are restoring habitats or managing existing ecosystems. Projects will be as small as a pollinator garden or as large as a watershed.

"The SOAR Faculty Fellows Program represents an important step toward strengthening the research and innovation culture at Wilkes University," says Abas Sabouni, professor of electrical engineering and chair of the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department, director of the SOAR Center and principal investigator of NSF grant. "By supporting faculty in building external partnerships and pursuing collaborative research opportunities, we aim to expand our research capacity, create meaningful experiences for students and strengthen the University's connections with industry and the broader community."

To learn more about the SOAR Center, visit wilkes.edu/soar.

The SOAR Center is supported by the National Science Foundation through the Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) program (Award #: 2519880).