College of Engineering honors research excellence

Juan Li, professor in the Department Computer Science, has been named the 2026 College of Engineering Kessler Excellence in Research Award winner.

Over the past five years, Li’s research program has demonstrated significant growth and impact. She has published more than 45 peer-reviewed papers in leading venues, and has secured over $7 million in external funding from major federal agencies including the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Li’s research has made important contributions to emerging areas such as AI-enabled digital twins for personalized healthcare, privacy-preserving federated learning systems and intelligent technologies that support caregivers and aging populations.

Li earned her Ph. D. from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She joined the faculty at NDSU in 2008.

Shuvashis Dey, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was also honored for his research.

Dey was awarded the 2026 Early Career Researcher of the Year for his work in the area of applied electromagnetics, with specific interests in passive RFID-based tags and sensors, as well as metamaterials and antenna design.

Since joining NDSU in 2021, he has established a strong and rapidly growing externally funded research program, securing over $1.84 million in total research funding from federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service.

The College of Engineering’s final research award, Graduate Student Researcher of the Year, was presented to Blessing Agyei Kyem, a doctoral student in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.

Kyem’s research lies at the intersection of multimodal artificial intelligence, computer vision and transportation engineering, with major contributions in AI driven pavement condition assessment and intelligent transportation systems.

While at NDSU, he has produced six peer reviewed journal publications, seven peer reviewed conference papers, 11 conference presentations, eight manuscripts currently under review, and three publicly released datasets.

Li, Dey and Kyem will be will be honored at the College of Engineering’s Scholarship and Awards Reception on Nov. 5.