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Reseacher Named UAHuntsville Engineering Dean

Newswise - Dr. Shankar Mahalingam has been chosen to lead the College of Engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Mahalingam serves as Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), and will formally join the university in August 2010.

"I am very excited about accepting the position of Dean of the College of Engineering at UAHuntsville," Mahalingam said, adding that he was thrilled to have the opportunity to work directly with President David Williams, Provost Vistasp Karbhari, the senior leadership on the campus, as well as the College of Engineering faculty, students, and staff, and with other faculty and deans in other colleges.

President Williams praised the work of the search committee in finding an engineering dean with a background that is so well connected to the community.

"Dr. Mahalingam has a clear understanding of the need for interaction of academia with our important Department of Defense, NASA, and Department of Energy partners and the larger community," President Williams said. "He also brings an outstanding record of scholarship and administrative leadership, and an interdisciplinary background that will undoubtedly help in leading our college to new heights of excellence."

The announcement of Dr. Mahalingam's hiring was made today by Provost Karbhari. While he doesn't report to campus until August, Dr. Mahalingam will have a leading role immediately in setting strategic directions for the college, according to Dr. Karbhari.

"Shankar emerged as the top candidate after an extensive national search process that involved our faculty and leaders of the community," Dr. Karbhari said. "He brings experience and a deep understanding of aspects related to growth and enhancement of excellence in tough economic times having had a leading role in the rapid growth in numbers and reputation of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UCR.

In speaking about the appointment, Dr. Dallas Rabenstein, Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost at UC Riverside and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry said: "UCR's loss will definitely be The University of Alabama in Huntsville's gain. Dr. Mahalingam has provided excellent leadership to the mechanical engineering department at UC Riverside during a critical growth period. I have very much enjoyed working with him, first when I was Dean of the Graduate Division and more recently as the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost."

Dr. Mahalingam is an internationally recognized leader in the areas of direct and large eddy simulations of turbulent combustion, flame spread experiments, computational fluid dynamics applied to turbulent combustion, acoustic-flow interactions, and cardiovascular fluid dynamics.

His research has been funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the National Science Foundation (NSF), United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDAFS), the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS-PRF) and the Los Alamos Laboratory, among other agencies and institutions.

He has been named twice as NASA AMES/Stanford Center for Turbulence Research Summer Fellow, and has also been awarded a DOE-AWU faculty fellowship twice. Dr. Mahalingam has published widely in leading scholarly journals including Combustion and Flame, Combustion Theory and Modeling, Combustion Science and Technology, Physics of Fluids, Proceedings of The Combustion Institute, and the AIAA Journal. He received his bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, State University of New York at Stony Brook, and Stanford University, respectively.

Dr. Mahalingam also brings interdisciplinary expertise in the delivery of instruction using the web and a keen interest in excellence in teaching and learning.

He is a member of The Combustion Institute, American Physical Society (Fluid Dynamics), Sigma Xi, International Association of Fire Safety Science, Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Source: NewsWise