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TENNESSEE SPRING 2014 ENGINEERTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLE • COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING New National Academy of Engineering Member George M. Pharr and the Future of Materials Engineering at UT Issue No. 1 Contents Tennessee Engineer is published in the spring and fall by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of 1 Dean’s Message Engineering Dean’s Message Our governor recently introduced a Pharr Named Member of the National bold plan, the TN Promise, as a part of 2 Dr. William L. Eversole the state’s effort to increase the science, Academy of Engineering Chair, Board of Advisors technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce in the state. It is a plan Donors Establish Wayne T. Davis that will provide increased opportunity 4 and motivation for high school students Dean’s Chair in Engineering Dr. Wayne T. Davis to attend the first two years free at the Dean, College of Engineering community and technical colleges within the state with the intent to increase 6 Faculty Updates the technologically trained workforce in Tennessee. It is also intended to encourage select students who choose Dorothy Barkley Bryson that route to then consider transferring 8 Faculty Focus: Dr. Eric Boder Executive Director to four-year colleges within the state to Engineering Development further their education. While we believe that entering our college as a freshman is the preferred approach for the majority 10 AIChE Student Chapter wins awards of our engineering students, we look forward to seeing an increase in interest Kim Cowart from the students that may enter as Director, Engineering Communications transfer students. This trained workforce 11 Engineering Students Explore Editor, Tennessee Engineer will be invaluable in helping our state Strongwell Corporation compete for and increase manufacturing capabilities in our area. The Center for Transportation In response to our unprecedented 12 Mitchell Williamson increase in undergraduate student Research Graphic Designer enrollment and PhD enrollment over the last five years (34% and 65%, respectively), and in anticipation of 14 Women in EECS Form Lean In Circle increased emphasis on manufacturing in Randall Brown the US and our state, our college is also Writer/Proofreader adding additional faculty in advanced manufacturing, composites, energy, 16 Student and Donor Appreciation power electronics, and many other areas. Luncheon These additional faculty members and their staff support were made possible Nick Myers by increased resources that have 18 Diversity Update University of Tennessee Photo & Video been provided by the state, university, Photography alumni, and friends of the college, and in collaboration with ORNL, other federally funded agencies/facilities, and 20 Alumni Profile our corporate partners. I encourage you to read about several of our newest Jack Parker faculty and the national and regional Jack Parker Photography awards being received by our faculty Development Update and students in this edition of Tennessee 21 Engineer as we continue to support the university and college’s vision of becoming a Top 25 public university. 24 Events and Awards Address correspondence to the editor: The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Engineers Day 2013 College of Engineering 25 Engineering Communications Office 114 Perkins Hall Knoxville, TN 37996-2012 COE Hosts Successful Homecoming 26 [email protected] (865) 974-0533 Alumni News Visit the College of Engineering web site at 27 www.engr.utk.edu 28 Memorials www.facebook.com/coe.utk UT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 1 or in magnetic hard drives, or small particles or devices used in immediately at the completion of phase I, and if that happens, the JIAM Director and Chancellor’s Professor Pharr Named nanotechnology. Many of these have dimensions as small as fifty JIAM scientists should be moving into the building in the summer nanometers, which is about a thousandth the size a human hair. or fall of 2015. The building is now complete enough that you can In many cases, the technological performance of these small get a good sense of what it will be like by walking through it. It is Member of the National Academy of Engineering objects depends on knowing exactly how strong they are. His really going to be first class.” research efforts for the last thirty years have been directed at JIAM was established in 2005 and is comprised of a George Pharr, Chancellor’s Professor in the Department ways to measure their strength and understand the basic physical multidisciplinary team of scientists from UT and ORNL, operating of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of mechanisms that determine their strength. One of the “mantras” in at the forefront of modern materials science. Tennessee, Joint Faculty Scientist in the Materials Science and this field of research is that “smaller is stronger,” and Pharr and his Technology Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory research team have been striving to understand why. Through a partnership that spans more than sixty years, UT and (ORNL), and director of the Joint Institute for Advanced ORNL researchers have maintained international prominence in “When I started this line of research, the materials we intended to Materials (JIAM) at UT, has been named a member of the the field of advanced materials synthesis and characterization. focus on were engineering materials, e.g., metals, alloys, ceramics, National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He becomes the fifth This broad research realm directly engages physicists, chemists, polymers, and semiconductors,” Pharr said. “What we did not NAE member in the College of Engineering. microscopists, computer scientists, and engineers, while involving envision is there would be a wide range of applications for our myriad other areas of scientific investigation. Many of JIAM’s Election to the NAE is among the highest professional testing methods in a large number of other scientific disciplines scientists hold joint appointments at UT and ORNL. The UT-ORNL distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership including geology, biology, medicine, and even anthropology.” joint institutes were created to spur collaboration and capitalize on honors those who have made outstanding contributions Pharr is also a fellow of the Materials Research Society and the mutual strengths. JIAM is one of five UT-ORNL joint institutes. to engineering research, practice, or education and to the American Society of Materials International. He has served as editor pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making “We hope that once all the JIAM scientists are under one of numerous academic journals and is the recipient of several major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, roof and sharing the same coffee pot and lunch spaces, new awards, including the 2010 Materials Research Society Innovation or developing and implementing innovative approaches multidisciplinary research collaborations will develop that will push in Materials Characterization Award, the 2007 Humboldt Research to engineering education. The NAE elected sixty-seven US materials research activities at UT and ORNL to new levels,” Pharr Award for Senior US Scientists, and the 1995 Amoco Teaching members and eleven foreign associates this year. This brings added. “Given the strength and importance of advanced materials Award at Rice University. the total US NAE membership to two thousand two hundred research here in East Tennessee, which stems from ORNL being the fifty and the number of foreign associates to two hundred and Pharr received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering lead DOE laboratory for advanced materials development, there fourteen. at Rice University and his doctorate in materials science and is no reason that JIAM shouldn’t become a world class materials engineering from Stanford University. research institute.” “I was absolutely thrilled. There were some rumors floating around a few weeks before the official announcement, but “George is a leader in the materials science field nationally As a NAE honoree, Pharr is in good company with other prior to that I had no idea I had been nominated or was being and internationally,” said Wayne Davis, dean of the College of engineering members including Mark Dean, John Fisher considered,” Pharr said. “So when the formal announcement Engineering. “His research and ideas have served to inspire other Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering came to me on February 5, it was truly a thrilling moment.” faculty and his students.” and Computer Science; Jack Dongarra, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Pharr was