Purdue announces public forums for engineering dean finalists

Richard A. Cosier, Krannert School of Management dean and the Leeds Professor of Management, is chairing the search for the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering. Cosier said the process is moving along smoothly, with an initial field of more than 45 candidates first pared down to 10 semifinalists, and then to five finalists. The finalists will be interviewed on campus before the end of June.

"We've been very impressed by the credentials of the candidates for this important position," Cosier said. "Certainly, Purdue's world-class engineering reputation has attracted some of the top people in the field. We anticipate our successful candidate will maintain and enhance our standing and keep Purdue at the forefront of engineering education."

The five candidates, two of whom are internal, their on-campus interview and public forum dates and locations are:

• Dennis Assanis, chair of University of Michigan Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Jon R. and Beverly S. Holt Professorship in Engineering at Michigan, June 26-27. A public forum for Assanis is scheduled for 2-3 p.m. June 27 in the Civil Engineering Building, Room 1144.

• L.S. Fan, distinguished university professor and the C. John Easton Professor of Engineering in the Ohio State University Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, June 29-30. A public forum for Fan is scheduled for 2-3 p.m. June 30 in the Electrical Engineering Building, Room 270.

• Leah Jamieson, interim dean of the Purdue College of Engineering and Ransburg Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, June 5-6. A public forum for Jamieson is scheduled for 2-3 p.m. June 6 in the Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering, Room G140.

• Alex King, professor and head of Purdue's School of Materials Engineering, June 19-20. A public forum for King is scheduled for 3-4 p.m. June 20 in the Electrical Engineering Building, Room 270.

• Richard Koubek, professor and head of the Pennsylvania State University's Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, June 1-2. A public forum for Koubek is scheduled for 2-3 p.m. June 1 in the Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering, Room G140.

Following public forums, the search committee will review the feedback from forum attendees before making its recommendation to Purdue President Martin Jischke and Provost Sally Mason, who will select the new dean. The appointment is then subject to approval by the university's Board of Trustees.

The candidates and their background are:

• Assanis has served as chair of the mechanical engineering department at Michigan since 2004 and was named an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. He received a bachelor of science degree in marine engineering from Newcastle University, England; master's degrees in both naval architecture and mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; master's degree in management from MIT's Sloan School of Management; and a doctorate in power and propulsion from MIT. He joined Michigan in 1994 and currently serves as the director of the Automotive Research Center, the director of the Walter E. Lay Automotive Laboratory, and the director of the newly founded Multi-University Consortium on Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition Engine Research. He is also co-director of the General Motors Collaborative Research Laboratory on engine systems research.

• Fan has been at Ohio State for 27 years and is the recipient of the 2005 Joseph Sullivant Medal, one of the university's highest honors. He served as chair of the chemical engineering department from 1994 to 2003. He was named a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2001 and is recognized for his invention of two patented clean-coal processes. He received the Malcolm E. Pruitt Award from the Council for Chemical Research, ASEE Chemical Engineering Division Union Carbide Lectureship Award, AlChE Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research, AlChE Partical Technology Forum Fluidized Processing Recognition Award and a AlChE Thomas Baron Award in Fluid-Particle Award. He earned a bachelor's degree from the National Taiwan University, master's degree and doctorate from West Virginia University, all in chemical engineering, and a master's degree in statistics from Kansas State University.

• Jamieson, who has served as interim dean of the Purdue College of Engineering since March, was named to the National Academy of Engineering in 2005 and was recently elected to serve as the 2007 president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. She is also a fellow of the IEEE. Jamieson is co-founder and director of Purdue's Engineering Projects in Community Service, or EPICS, which received the National Academy of Engineering's $500,000 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education in 2005. Jamieson, who joined the Purdue faculty in 1976, earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University. She is the recipient of several awards in research and teaching, including the 2002 Indiana Professor of the Year and a National Science Foundation Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars. Jamieson also has served on advisory committees for the National Science Foundation.

• King has been at Purdue since 1999. He received a Jefferson Science Fellowship in 2005 to help formulate and implement foreign policy for the U.S. Department of State. He earned a bachelor's degree in metallurgy from the University of Sheffield and a doctorate from the University of Oxford. Previously, he was a faculty member in the materials science and engineering department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he also served as vice provost for graduate studies. He has written more than 100 peer-reviewed research papers, edited four technical books, lectured on four continents and was the 2002 president of the Materials Research Society. He was a visiting fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in 1996 and is a fellow of both ASM International and the (UK) Institute of Materials.

• Koubek has served as head of industrial engineering at Penn State since 2001. Previously, he was professor and chair of biomedical, industrial and human factors engineering at Wright State University. He was also associate dean for research and graduate studies for the Wright State College of Engineering and Computer Science. He received a bachelor's degrees in theology and chemistry from Oral Roberts University and a bachelor of arts in psychology and human factors from Northeastern Illinois University. Koubek earned a master of science degree and a doctorate in industrial engineering from Purdue. He received the Pritsker Outstanding Teaching Award from the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University in 1995 and the Teacher of the Year Award from the Wright State University College of Engineering in 1991.

Purdue's College of Engineering is made up of 12 schools and departments: aeronautics and astronautics, agricultural and biological, biomedical, chemical, civil, construction engineering and management, electrical and computer, engineering education, industrial, materials, mechanical, and nuclear. The college also includes the Division of Engineering Professional Practice and programs including Engineering Projects in Community Service, Minority Engineering Program and the Women in Engineering Program.

The College of Engineering undergraduate program is ranked eighth, and its graduate program is ranked sixth in the nation by the U.S. News and World Report. In the fall 2005, the college included more than 6,200 undergraduate students and more than 2,200 graduate students, making it one of the largest in the nation.

Writer: Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu

Source: Richard Cosier, (765) 494-4366, rcosier@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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