dulio, fu, khattree, distinguished professors
February 7, 2023
Three outstanding professors were elevated to the rank of "Distinguished Professor" at the February 6, 2023 Oakland University Board of Trustees meeting. They included:
Ravindra Khattree, Ph.D. (College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics and Statistics) Professor of Statistics
Dr. Ravindra Khattree is an internationally recognized statistician, whose academic credentials include more than 100 journal publications, two books, two edited volumes and guest editorship of two journal volumes on a wide variety of statistical topics. For instance, Khattree’s significant contributions have resulted in theorems, estimators and plots that bear his name: Fountain-Khattree-Peddada Theorem, Khattree’s nonnegative estimators of variance components, Khattree-Bahuguna’s Univariate Multivariate Skewness and Khattree-Bahuguna Multivariate Skewness, and the Khattree-Naik Plots/Khattree-Naik Curves. Additionally, major companies such as Ford, GM and BF Goodrich have sought his expertise as a consultant.
In 2002, the American Statistical Association honored Khattree with the rank of fellow, which is an honor given to less than one-third of one percent of all members of the association each year. In 2003, the International Indian Statistical Association awarded him the Young Statistician Award. He is also an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. These are extraordinary recognitions from highly prestigious statistical associations. In addition, he served as senior statistician for the U.S. National Academy of Science’s Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Hiroshima. In 2022, Khattree visited the Central University of Rajastan in India as a Fulbright expert.
Khattree balances a passion for research with an appreciation for collaboration and support. He has supervised eight Ph.D. students, organized conferences, given more than 90 invited presentations and served on review panels for the NSF. He is also the co-director of OU’s Center for Data Science and Big Data Analytics.
Huirong Fu, Ph.D. (School of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer Science and Engineering) Professor of Engineering
Dr. Huirong Fu is a leading expert in networks, information security for cellular and vehicular network systems, and data centers. Her contributions include two books, 45 peer-reviewed journal publications and close to 100 conference papers. Additionally, Fu’s publications have been cited over 2,500 times and have been published in prestigious outlets such as the IEEE Transactions on Networking, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications and Computer Communication.
Fu is also the founding director of the Center for Cybersecurity, which promotes cybersecurity knowledge through interdisciplinary research, teaching and outreach activities. Over time, this Center has been identified as the National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. As a result of this Center, the school has developed a Master of Science degree in Cybersecurity that builds on the national need for cybersecurity professionals. She has built two state-of-the-art teaching labs that are fully equipped with cutting-edge technology to offer appropriate cybersecurity training to students.
Her compassion for students stems into each facet of her research and service. She has mentored 12 graduate students at various levels. She has also secured more than $6 million of federal funding to support her research and outreach efforts. These grants have supported more than 150 students from almost 100 universities as part of a 10-week summer research program, more than half of whom are women or students from underrepresented communities. Moreover, Fu is the program director of the NSA/NSF GenCyber program for K-12 students. This program has worked with a diverse pool of more than 600 elementary, middle and high school students.
David Dulio, Ph.D. (College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Political Science) Professor of Political Science
Dr. David Dulio is a nationally recognized scholar of Michigan politics. His research interests evolved from a focus on political consultants to Michigan politics and elections over the course of his academic career. This transition to Michigan politics occurred at a time of heightened interest in states such as Michigan for local issues and national presidential elections. As a result, he is now recognized in the academic and non-academic communities as one of the preeminent experts on Michigan politics.
Dulio’s scholarship includes 13 books, 77 articles or book chapters, and he is currently working on two additional edited books. In addition, he has been invited to prestigious international conferences to discuss presidential campaigns in Michigan in the context of rising populism across the globe. Setting him apart, Dulio also regularly offers insight through local and national media, including Newsweek, Time, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NBC News, Fox News, Bloomberg News and C-SPAN. Brian Bierley, director of OU’s Media Relations, estimates that he has done nearly 1,000 media interviews over the last decade. These contributions have brought unprecedented exposure to Oakland University.
Dulio maintains this level of public engagement while also serving as the founding director of the Center for Civic Engagement. The Center strives to be the convener of conversations of importance for political and non-political issues to improve the quality of life for the people in Southeast Michigan. Since its founding four years ago, the Center has organized more than 50 programs or events involving nearly 4,000 participants. These programs have invited speakers such as Lech Walesa, Madeleine Albright and many local and Michigan politicians.