S&T appoints Kummer Endowed faculty

Great universities need great minds. These Kummer endowed faculty are helping to shape research and education at Missouri S&T.

Kummer Endowed Chairs

Portrait of Seung-Jong "Jay" Park in a suit and tie.

Seung-Jong “Jay” Park

Kummer Endowed Chair of Computer Science

Park joined S&T in 2023. He was previously a program director for the National Science Foundation and the Dr. Fred H. Fenn Memorial Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Louisiana State University. His Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering is from Georgia Institute of Technology.

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Subhas “Karan” Venayagamoorthy

Kummer Endowed Chair of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Venayagamoorthy started at S&T in August. He was previously the Borland Professor of Fluid Mechanics at Colorado State University. His Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering is from Stanford University.

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Gina Yosten

Kummer Endowed Chair of Biological Sciences

Yosten joined S&T in July. She was previously a professor of pharmacology and physiology at Saint Louis University’s School of Medicine, where she also earned a Ph.D.

Kummer Endowed Professors

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David Bojanic

Kummer Endowed Professor of Business and Information Technology

Bojanic came to S&T in 2022. He previously held the Anheuser-Busch Foundation Professorship in Marketing at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He earned a Doctor of Business Administration degree from the University of Kentucky.

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Jeffrey Humpherys

Kummer Endowed Professor of Data Science

Humpherys started at S&T in August. He was previously chief data scientist for Harbor Health. His Ph.D. in mathematics is from Indiana University. Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Humpherys

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Lijun Jiang

Kummer Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Jiang joined S&T in 2023. He was previously a professor of electrical engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering is from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Kummer Impact Professors

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Amy Belfi

Associate professor of psychological science

Belfi began her appointment July 1, 2025. Her NIH-funded research focuses on music and health. She will support S&T’s first psychology Ph.D. student who will investigate the neural correlates of music-evoked memories in younger and older adults to improve memory function as people age. Photo by Stephanie Zettl.

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Rui Bo

Associate professor of electrical and computer engineering

Bo began Sept. 1, 2025. He brings an expertise in power grid resilience and economics and plans to lead interdisciplinary research tied to the Kummer Institute’s strategic goals.

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Hongyan Ma

Associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering

Ma was the first to be named a Kummer Impact Professor in July 2024. His research team investigates carbon capture in construction materials and using waste byproducts in upcycling to improve resilience and sustainability in infrastructure design.