5 Purdue faculty earn prestigious IEEE fellow designation

Five Purdue faculty members have been named 2026 fellows of IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization.

The elite distinction of being named an IEEE fellow is reserved for those whose extraordinary accomplishments and significant contributions have advanced the fields of engineering, science or technology. The annual honor is limited to fewer than 0.1% of IEEE’s total voting members.

Purdue fellows and their contributions

Yaobin Chen, professor in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and director of the Transportation and Autonomous Systems Institute, College of Engineering. Chen was selected for his contributions to vehicle safety and vehicle electrification. His pioneering research has led to industry breakthroughs in the assessment of safety technologies and helped inform guidelines and standards practiced by professional organizations and government agencies.

Jing Gao, associate professor in ECE, College of Engineering. Gao is joining this year’s class of fellows for her work in addressing the multifaceted challenges of big data analytics. Her cutting-edge research has helped establish and advance innovative data analysis techniques, addressing the veracity, velocity, variety and volume challenges in big data in settings where data are unreliable, rapidly evolving, heterogeneous and large-scale.

Jie Shan, the Reilly Professor of Civil Engineering in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, College of Engineering. Shan is being recognized for his contributions to advanced light detection and ranging analytics and technologies. Shan’s innovative methods for processing and analyzing image data have advanced large-scale topographic mapping and expanded the frontiers of geomatics engineering.

Lin Tan, professor in the Department of Computer Science, College of Science. Tan has been elevated to IEEE fellow for her contributions to software text analytics, software-AI synergy and software reliability. Her research has leveraged machine learning, language processing techniques and software approaches to enhance the dependability of machine learning and software systems.

T.N. Vijaykumar, professor in ECE, College of Engineering. Vijaykumar was selected for his contributions to an integrated microarchitecture-circuit approach for low-power, high-performance computer architectures. His influential computer architecture research has led to new developments and advancements in high-performance microprocessors, low-power architectures, fault-tolerant architectures and multicore cache hierarchies.

Additional information about Purdue’s 2026 IEEE fellows can be found on the College of Engineering and College of Science websites.