Three Texas A&M University College of Engineering faculty members received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award in 2025 for novel and innovative research to improve mental health programs, sustainable grid designs, and women’s health.
The NSF CAREER award supports early career faculty members’ research and helps advance their roles as future academic role models in education and research. Faculty members lead academic and research advancements in their respective programs, departments or organizations. Efforts made by faculty members help establish a strong foundation of leadership—integrating research and education for the long run.
Annually, the NSF awards approximately 500 CAREER grants, totaling around $250 million, to early career faculty across various U.S. institutions of higher learning, observatories, research labs, museums, professional societies and similar organizations engaged in research or educational activities.
This year’s recipients include:
Dr. Hrayer Aprahamian
Assistant Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering
Aprahamian’s project is titled “CAREER: Turning the Tide: Novel Data Analytics and Optimization Approaches for Mitigating the University Mental Health Crisis.” He wants to improve data analytics and optimize techniques that harness outcome- and provider-based data in mental health systems.
Through an optimization-based active learning framework, Aprahamian provides efficient methods to improve complex stochastic system models and analyze inputs over time for predictability, where randomness and change are constant factors. This research will help maximize effective mental health treatments, increase student access to services and create a balance between operational efficiency and treatment effectiveness.
“Receiving the NSF CAREER award is a tremendous honor that supports my long-term goal of advancing the frontiers of data analytics and optimization,” Aprahamian said. “By developing new methodologies for learning from complex systems and making high-stakes decisions under uncertainty, this work aims to contribute fundamental insights to the field — while also addressing the urgent mental health crisis facing our universities.”
Aprahamian wants to improve the academic success of students with mental health challenges and increase student engagement in STEM programs through research, integration, mentorship and dedicated fast-track programs.
Read more about Aprahamian’s research.
Dr. Adam Birchfield
Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Birchfield’s project, titled “CAREER: Spatial Complex Network Analysis of Bulk Electric Grids for Long-Term System Planning,” is focused on transforming electric transmission networks into efficient energy sources from renewable resources like wind and solar. His research addresses the computational and modelling challenges of transmission expansion planning, which is the planning process for where to build new power lines.
Birchfield’s innovative solution creates a new framework to improve the grid’s structure and predict technical performance on how quickly the algorithms can find solutions. His goal is to reduce the wasteful shutdown of renewable energy sources significantly.
“It’s all about developing better ways to design the electric grids. By choosing the right places to build or upgrade power lines, we can accommodate new energy sources and new energy demands for a system that is crucial to our daily life,” Birchfield said.
Through the project, Birchfield hopes to fully utilize the power produced by renewable resources such as wind and solar and enhance power grids’ resilience against blackouts. He will also establish an educational program to teach students more about sustainability and resilience in power systems.
Learn more about Birchfield’s research.
Dr. Shreya Raghavan
Assistant Professor & Holder of the Cains Faculty Fellow II, Biomedical Engineering
Raghavan’s project, “CAREER: Peristalsis Mechanobiology in the Uterine Endometrium”, researches the mechanics of the uterus, called peristalsis, and its effects on the cells in the inner lining of the uterus. Raghavan and her team will investigate how cells sense uterine movements and respond with growth, migration, or immune activation. The research addresses a significant bottleneck in our understanding of how mechanical movements of the uterus impact successful outcomes in fertility and pregnancy. Researchers will use a special device, called a peristalsis bioreactor, which can apply uterine mechanical patterns to different cells.
This work will also advance knowledge of women’s health issues, such as uterine endometrial cancer, endometriosis and adenomyosis.
“Understanding the impact of uterine mechanics on cells – it sounds simple, but it is truly understudied – I hope that the research funded by this award will pave the way for new insights into this often-overlooked area, merging uterine mechanics with uterine biology,” Raghavan said.
The project also includes educational programs. Raghavan believes her responsibility is to lead and educate others as an academic researcher. She hopes that the combined efforts in research and education will help close gaps in women’s health research, engineering and technology.
Read more about Raghavan’s research.
Funding for this research is administered by the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), the official research agency for Texas A&M Engineering.