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.
Yohanna Mejia Cruz
Assistant Professor
Through her research, Cruz aims to transform buildings and infrastructure into intelligent systems capable of sensing, interpreting and responding to human needs. Through the integration of probabilistic modeling, signal processing, machine learning and multi-modal sensing technologies, she develops infrastructure embedded systems that enable the continuous assessment of human mobility, behavior and functional change in everyday environments. Prior to joining UCF, she served as an assistant professor at Montana Technological University. She earned her doctoral degree in civil engineering from the University of South Carolina and master’s degrees and bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering from the Universidad del Valle in Colombia.
Shahrior Pervaz
Research Assistant Professor
Pervaz joins UCF from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology’s Accident Research Institute. Prio to that, he served as a postdoctoral scholar at UCF. His research focuses on the formulation and development of statistical and econometric models and their application to different transportation engineering sectors. The goal is to understand the underlying behavioral patterns and decision processes in transportation planning and safety, and drive behavior. Pervaz is currently involved in multiple research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program.
Alexandra Schueller
Assistant Professor
Prior to joining UCF, Schueller served as an endowed professor at the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences in Germany as a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Applied Coastal Research at the University of Delaware. She also has an appointment as guest investigator at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Before entering academia full time, she spent more than a decade in public water administration and disaster management in Germany. Her research focuses on coastal and riverine hazards, nearshore hydrodynamics, coastal geotechnics, reconnaissance science and flood emergency management.
- Written by Marisa Ramiccio