Four faculty members in the Bioengineering (BIOE) Department at Rice University have been promoted, including two to full professor, effective July 1, 2022.
Promotion to full professor with tenure:
Laura Segatori earned her Laurea in industrial biotechnology from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 2000, and her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Texas in 2005. After two years as a postdoctoral fellow in chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute, Segatori joined the Rice faculty in 2007. Her research focuses on cellular and molecular engineering, systems and synthetic biology as applied to immunoengineering and cancer, drug delivery, and gene and cell therapies. In 2021, Segatori was elected as a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Her honors include an NSF CAREER Award.
Jeffrey Tabor earned his B.A. in biology in 2001 and his Ph.D. in molecular biology in 2006, both from the University of Texas. After four years as an NIH postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco, he joined the Rice faculty in 2010. In 2020, Tabor was elected as a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He has also won an NSF CAREER Award and an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award. His research focuses on synthetic biology, optogenetics, bacterial two-component systems, and diagnostic and therapeutic bacteria.
Promotion to full teaching professor:
Renata Ramos earned her B.S. in MECH from the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, México, in 2002 and her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Arizona in 2008. After two years as a postdoctoral fellow in BIOE at Rice, she joined the Rice faculty in 2010. She is the associate dean for academic affairs in the George R. Brown School of Engineering, overseeing curriculum, teaching, student opportunities, accreditation and DE&I efforts. She is the recipient of three George R. Brown Awards for Superior Teaching, the Graduate Student Association Faculty Teaching and Mentoring Award and the BED Teaching Award from the American Society for Engineering Education.
Promotion to assistant teaching professor:
Sabia Abidi earned her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2002 and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin in 2007. After two years as a postdoctoral fellow in BIOE at Rice, she joined the Rice faculty in 2019. Her research focuses on cell differentiation, microfluidics for immunological and blood-related disease treatment and detection, parasitological and microbiological techniques. She is committed to mentorship and STEM outreach through her active involvement in IEEE WIE, Big Brother/Big Sister program and Rice related roles.