Recently, four new academic staff members joined the Department of Engineering at Reykjavik University: Lulu Wang, Ingunn Guðbrandsdóttir, Luca De Gennaro Aquino, and Vala Hjörleifsdóttir.

"The Department of Engineering at RU emphasizes a diverse range of study programs and the freedom to tailor one's education to individual interests and needs. The department boasts a strong team of faculty members with expertise in various fields of technology and science. It is a pleasure to welcome this talented group, who will both enhance and strengthen the department's diverse research activities and teaching offerings," says Ármann Gylfason, Dean of the Department of Engineering at RU.

Dr. Lulu Wang is a professor at the Department of Engineering at RU. She has a PhD in Engineering from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. Before joining RU she was a Distinguished Professor and Director of Biomedical Device Innovation Center at Shenzen Technology University in China. Dr. Wang has expertise in diverse fields such as cancer, bioelectromagnetics, artificial intelligence, microwave sensing and imaging, electromagnetic sensing and imaging and biomedical devices.

Ingunn Guðbrandsdóttir is an Adjunct at the Department of Engineering at RU and teaches Engineering Management. She is completing her PhD in Industrial Engineering at the University of Iceland and joins RU after working in strategic planning and development at JBT Marel for the past three years. Ingunn‘s PhD research is on how modelling can support policy making and sustainability transitions in food systems with a special emphasis on salmon farming.

Dr. Luca De Gennaro Aquino is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Engineering at RU. He earned his PhD from Grenoble Ecole de Management in France, with a thesis on robust decision making and model uncertainty. After his PhD, he did four years of postdoc, first at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China and then at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Most of Dr. De Gennaro Aquino’s research is on decision theory, particularly related to portfolio choice and time-inconsistency.

Dr. Vala Hjörleifsdóttir is an Associate Professor at the Department of Engineering at RU. She is a seismologist and worked at Orkuveita Reykjavíkur as the director of innovation and vision before joining RU. Vala earned her PhD in geophysics with an emphasis on seismology from the California Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on improving geothermal exploration and monitoring natural hazards, for example, using fiber optic technology.