Reza Ghodssi, the Herbert Rabin Distinguished Chair in Engineering at the University of Maryland (UMD) and Inaugural Executive Director of Research and Innovation at the UMD MATRIX Lab, has been named a Distinguished University Professor. The title is the highest appointment bestowed on a tenured faculty member, and recognizes the excellence, impact, and significant contributions to the nominee’s field both nationally and internationally. The highly selective honor is given to just 7% of UMD tenured faculty.

“Thank you, University of Maryland, for being my home institution for the past twenty-five years and providing me with fantastic opportunities for research, education, innovation, and outreach,” said Ghodssi. “I proudly share this significant honor with my current and former undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral associates, and excellent collaborators.”

Ghodssi’s research interests are in the design and development of micro/nano/bio devices and systems for chemical and biological sensing, small-scale energy conversion, and harvesting for healthcare applications. He holds nine U.S. patents, with nine applications published and nine pending, and has authored over 175 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 370 conference papers. He is a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Last year, he won the Gaede-Langmuir Award from the American Vacuum Society for his pioneering MEMS research.

At UMD, Ghodssi is the Director of the MEMS Sensors and Actuators Lab, an Institute Fellow of the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, and a member of the UMD Center of Excellence in Microbiome Sciences.

He is also affiliated with the Fischell Department of Bioengineering, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Maryland NanoCenter, and Maryland Energy Innovation Institute.

Ghodssi has held several leadership roles throughout his tenure at UMD, including directing the Institute for Systems Research from 2009-2018, where he helped establish the Maryland Robotics Center, and the Brain and Behavior Institute as founding co-director. 

Ghodssi is also president of the Transducer Research Foundation (TRF), an international body fostering innovation in sensors and microsystems. In addition to his organizational leadership roles, Ghodssi has mentored more than 130 students and postdocs, and has produced academic leaders and industry innovators now at institutions such as Georgia Tech, Meta and the Army Research Lab.

Ghodssi and other academic and service honorees will be recognized for their awards at the 2025 Faculty & Staff Convocation on September 17 from 2–4 p.m. in the UMD Memorial Chapel.

—Story by Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices