Academics and entrepreneurs from around the world have joined the faculty at the UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science for the Fall 2026 semester.
A total of 16 new faculty from Mexico, Colombia, Germany and the U.S. bring a wide range of expertise to six of the college’s seven academic units. This group, which includes industry scientists, research faculty and UCF alumni, specialize in topics such as nuclear engineering, robotic systems, coastal hazards, efficient computation, biomechanics and system optimization.
The new mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty are:
Kunal Mondal
Associate Professor
Mondal joins UCF from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he served as a nuclear fuel cycle engineer. Prior to that, he worked at the Idaho National Laboratory and completed postdoctoral work at Florida Atlantic University and North Carolina State University. Mondal’s research focuses on the development of sustainable energy systems for next-generation technologies. He is a licensed professional engineer in Idaho.
Juan Rodriguez
Associate Lecturer
Rodriguez brings years of experience in academia, having been an instructor at CETYS University in Mexico, a lecturer at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and an aeronautical engineering instructor at the National Test Pilot School in California. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Seongmi Song
Assistant Professor
Song joins UCF from the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, where she served as a postdoctoral scholar. Her background is in research engineering and biomechanics, with previous academic positions at Texas A&M University, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, and the Seoul Asan Medical Center. Her work focuses on neurobiomechanics, specifically investigating the intersection of neural biomarkers, human movement and assistive robotic technologies such as exoskeletons. Her goal is to develop intelligent assistive devices and objective biomarkers that improve mobility and quality of life for individuals with movement disorders. At UCF, she joins the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering as an assistant professor and is a member of the Disability, Aging and Technology (DAT) faculty research cluster.
Wenzhong Zhou
Associate Professor
Zhou brings an expertise in nuclear engineering and energy to UCF along with years of industry experience. Prior to joining UCF, he served as a principal engineer at Westinghouse Electric Company and as a faculty member at several universities around the world. His work focuses on the development of multiscale and mutiphysics modeling and simulation methods for nuclear fuels and materials, reactor safety and thermal hydraulics. His research supports both existing light water reactors and advanced nuclear energy systems. He has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 50 conference papers, and his work has been highly cited by nuclear engineering researchers. He joins UCF as an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and as a member of the Resilient, Intelligent and Sustainable Energy Systems (RISES) faculty research cluster.