The College of Technology welcomes 9 new faculty in the fall 2021 semester. Their diverse experiences will add to the college’s ability to provide exceptional programs that contribute to our students’ success!
“I continue to be impressed by the quality of new faculty attracted to the College of Technology,” said Anthony Ambler, dean of the College of Technology. “I look forward to their contributions in teaching and research.”
Get to know our new faculty through their bios below.
Kailai Wang
Assistant Professor
Supply Chain & Logistics
Department of Construction Management
Dr. Kailai Wang is an Assistant Professor of Supply Chain and Logistics Technology in the Department of Construction Management at the University of Houston. Before joining UH, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the 3 Revolution Future Mobility Program at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies from 2019-2020. He received his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University in 2019. His research interests lie at the nexus of transportation, urban planning, and spatial data science. Dr. Wang has first-authored papers on several peer-reviewed journals, such as Journal of Planning Education and Research, Transportation, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, Journal of Transport Geography, Cities, and Sustainable Cities and Society. He is now a committee member of the TRB’s Standing Committees on Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies (AP020) and Bicycle Transportation (ACH20). He has also served the academic community by acting as a reviewer for a list of prestigious peer-reviewed journals, books, and conference proceedings.
Alfred B. Henson
Instructional Assistant Professor
Supply Chain & Logistics
Department of Construction Management
Alfred B. Henson is a native Houstonian who has studied architecture, construction technology, planning, and environmental policy. He attended the University of Houston and Texas Southern University where his coursework led to the achievement of three degrees: a B.S. in Architectural Construction Technology, a Master of City Planning, and a Doctorate in Urban Planning and Environmental Policy. His work experience reflects his academic accolades and has contributed to community service, business ownership, professional consulting, city management, and academia. His acquired education and skills led to inspecting and reconstructing homes for low-income households; managing his own design-construction business, teaching geography and planning courses, constructing and reconstructing church facilities; and assisting with technical writing and geographic information concerning the City of Houston's application for disaster recovery funding. Throughout his academic studies and his tenure as a GIS Manager at the City of Houston, Alfred has utilized Geographic Information System (GIS) software and applications to solve problems and communicate with geospatial data and analytics. His comprehensive understanding of housing, transportation, infrastructure, and economics aligns well with his use of technology. He is an asset for multiple professions and academic research.
Pamara Flora Chang
Assistant Professor
Digital Media
Department of Information & Logistics Technology
Pamara Flora Chang, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the College of Technology, Department of Information and Logistics Technology. Her research program explores health communication and information communication technologies. She is interested in how individuals manage stigmatized information and identities through the use of communication and information technologies, specifically in the context of invisible disabilities. She is also interested in the effects of mobile technologies as an intervention tool to improve health and quality of life. Outside of her research, she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, and playing tennis.
Shun Cao
Assistant Professor
Technology Leadership & Innovation Management
Department of Information and Logistics Technology
Shun Cao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information and Logistics Technology. He received the Ph.D. in Systems Science from Binghamton University, State University of New York, Binghamton, New York, in 2021. He obtained his B.E. in Aerospace Engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, and his M.E. in Space Propulsion Systems at China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, China.
His main research interests include social network analysis, modeling and simulation of human teams, data analytics.
Renjie Hu
Assistant Professor
Computer Information Systems
Department of Information and Logistics Technology
Renjie Hu got his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He received his M.S. degree in Operations Research from Columbia University. His research interest mainly focuses on Machine Learning, in particular: Healthcare data analytics, Missing Value Imputation, Big Data in Manufacturing, Feature Extraction on Images, Dimensionality Reduction, and Data Visualization. He is a member of INFORMS, IISE, and IEEE.
Dennis Sherman
Instructional Assistant Professor
Technology Project Management
Department of Construction Management
Dr. Dennis Sherman brings vast knowledge and expertise to the Technology Project Management program, with over 30 years in aerospace projects with Boeing, including the B-1B Maintenance Trainer Engineering program and the Space Shuttle Orbiter project office. He received various NASA achievement awards – including the coveted Human Spaceflight Achievement award. Dr. Sherman received his Ph.D. in Organizational Management from Capella University in 2013. He retired from Boeing in 2014 to pursue a desire to put the Ph.D. to work educating the future project management workforce. Dr. Sherman has been teaching as an adjunct faculty member in the technology management program since 2017 and has now accepted a full time position with the college. He lives in League City, Texas with my delightful wife of 40 years. They have a daughter and a son, and 5 grandsons. Not surprising, two of them have taken an interest in aviation. Go figure.
Tony Liao
Assistant Professor
Digital Media
Department of Information & Logistics Technology
Tony Liao (Ph.D., Cornell University) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Logistics and Technology and the Founding Director of the CougAR lab, which explores how augmented reality technologies could affect society now and in the future. The lab offers students access to the most cutting edge augmented and virtual reality devices, and will be welcoming research assistants in Fall 2021 who want to get hands on experience working with the equipment, conduct research studies, and network with industry experts. Any students who are interested and have questions should contact Professor Liao for a tour of the lab (tcliao [at] uh.edu (tcliao[at]uh[dot]edu)).
The CougAR lab is unique in that it focuses on augmented reality technologies from a social science perspective, understanding how people utilize emerging technologies in everyday life, how emerging technologies can affect people’s perceptions of place, and how the discussion surrounding emerging technologies shapes development of the technology.
Professor Liao works closely with his students to publish and their work has been published in leading academic outlets such as New Media & Society, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Information, Communication, & Society, Social Media & Society, Science, Technology, & Human Values, Mobile Media & Communication, Information and Organization, Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), Ethics and Information Technology, Journal of Communication Pedagogy, and First Monday.