Ram Narayanan (left) of the electrical engineering department and Gang “Gary” Tan (right) of the computer science and engineering department, have been named distinguished professors by the Penn State Office of Faculty Affairs. Credit: Penn State Engineering.
Penn State names two EECS faculty distinguished professors for 2026
Feb 16, 2026
Editor’s note: A version of this article originally appeared on Penn State News.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State's Office of Faculty Affairs has named 14 new distinguished professors for 2026, including Ram Narayanan of the electrical engineering department and Gang “Gary” Tan of the computer science and engineering department.
The distinguished professor or distinguished librarian title recognizes outstanding academic contribution to the University. This special academic title is bestowed upon a limited number of professors who are leaders in their fields of research or creative activity and who have demonstrated significant accomplishments with respect to teaching, research or creative activity, and service.
Narayanan studies radar engineering and electromagnetics and is best known for his work in noise radar and quantum radar, and for founding Penn State’s Center for Radar Engineering, Science, and Technology. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) and the International Electromagnetics Academy.
Tan's research into trustworthy computing and software security has shaped the fields of software security, formal verification and systems reliability. His work has been supported by major federal grants, including leading an $8.5 million DARPA project on secure mixed-reality systems. He is a co-director of the Institute for Networking and Security Research and an Association for Computing Machinery Distinguished Member.
View the full list of 2026 distinguished professors here.
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