UConn Engineering Faculty Member Accepts Two New Positions with UConn and the USDA
May 15, 2024 | Jordan Baker, Center for Clean Energy Engineering
Professor Ioulia Valla, within the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE), has recently accepted two positions. One with UConn and the other with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Valla, who is a faculty member within the Center for Clean Energy Engineering (C2E2), focuses on sustainable energy and fuels coming from waste and biomass resources. Her work on catalytic processes for the development of technologies will help to provide cleaner fuels, contribute to clean energy, and mitigate climate change.
Dr. Valla in her research lab at the Center for Clean Energy Engineering
In January 2024, Valla accepted two new positions, one of which being with the USDA-NIFA where she will serve as a Special Advisor Panel Manager in one of their programs. NIFA provides funding, educational resources, and leadership to advance agricultural related sciences. Through this role she will facilitate the review panels for three categories of proposals at NIFA named Partnership, SEED and Standard. Through this, she will ask the panel questions about the proposal’s merit and facilitate the discussion between the reviewers so they can evaluate the proposals accordingly. She will lead this effort with approximately 160 proposals per year.
In addition to this position, Valla has also accepted a position with UConn’s College of Engineering, where she is now the Director of Graduate Studies Programs. Her role in this position will be to help facilitate recruitment of more graduate students, improve equity and inclusion of graduate students, and organize different events for the students to increase engagement and wellness. With UConn transitioning from the School of Engineering into the College of Engineering, it will bring many opportunities to engineering at UConn. Valla, in response to this, said “I am hopeful that the transition from a school to a college will expand our vision and expand the engineering discipline and research opportunities as well as create more of an appetite for graduate students to want to be a part of our college.” She is hopeful that connections will be strengthened, and more opportunities in industry, research, and industrial engagement will become more accessible to students. She also wants to expand on the diversity of students within the program by engaging both domestic and international students, “I want to expand in more international recruitment and students outside of what we currently have. More diversity, minority, and ethnicities that we don’t usually see to broaden and expand ideologies that will help expand the program.” Her vision is to create a program that is even more diverse and to expand on the learning experiences and collaborations, where students and faculty can learn from each other.
Her goal is to engage with more students and create an even more diverse program by planning events and programs that support and engage the students both academically and socially. “I want to plan events that foster a sense of belonging among students and provide access to resources for connection, so they feel connected with the college and among each other—i.e., social events to meet each other, or events to share their research and activities.”
Valla will continue her faculty position and research within CBE and C2E2 in the College of Engineering while also leading these new positions.
