New Department Leaders in MAE and Chems

Samueli School Names New Leadership for the Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Irvine, Calif., August 27, 2002 — The Henry Samueli School of Engineering recently appointed new chairs to head the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

Professor Dimitri Papamoschou was named chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering last month, succeeding Professor Said Elghobashi, who served for five years. Papamoschou already has mapped out ambitious plans for the department.

"Our goal is to be ranked among the nation's top ten mechanical and aerospace engineering departments in the near future," he said. "We deserve this distinction because our faculty are of outstanding quality. They are world-renowned experts in their fields and have received the highest honors: three are members of the National Academy of Engineering, eight are Fellows of professional societies, and several have received CAREER awards from premier federal agencies."

An expert in compressible turbulent flows, Papamoschou has in recent years turned his attention to suppressing noise from jet engines. He holds two patents on innovative methods for reducing noise from supersonic aircraft, and one patent is pending on silencing commercial turbofan engines. His other interests include infrared signature suppression from military airplanes, gaseous mixing in high-speed flows and respiratory fluid dynamics.

Papamoschou joined the department in 1988 as assistant professor. He earned master's and doctoral degrees in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology. He is Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of the American Physical Society.

In the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Professor Stanley B. Grant was named chair this month. He succeeds Professor Enrique Lavernia, who leaves to take the helm of the engineering school at UC Davis.

"I feel incredibly fortunate to assume the leadership of a department filled with such top-notch faculty, staff and students," Grant said.

Grant is well known for his investigation into the causes of the highly publicized beach closures at Huntington Beach, Calif. To that end, he and several colleagues recently received a $640,000 grant from the UC Marine Council to study the influence of coastal wetlands on Southern California coastal water quality. Grant's research also focuses on the mechanisms by which human viruses are transported through groundwater.

In 1997, he received the Distinguished Assistant Professor Award for Teaching from the UCI Academic Senate. In 1995, he was awarded the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Career Award for his research and teaching on physiochemical processes for removing particles and viruses from water.

Grant joined the department in 1991 as assistant professor. He earned master's and doctoral degrees in environmental engineering and science from the California Institute of Technology.

"I am most proud to have such outstanding young colleagues as Dimitri and Stan step forward to take leadership roles in our school and community," said Nicolaos G. Alexopoulos, dean of the Samueli School. "I am impressed with their outstanding academic record and high standards and with their commitment to work for their colleagues and students. I am certain they will contribute significantly in our effort to become one of the best engineering schools in the country."

The Henry Samueli School of Engineering encompasses five departments: biomedical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, chemical engineering and materials science, electrical and computer engineering and mechanical and aerospace engineering. The school also is home to numerous research centers, including the Center for Pervasive Communications, National Fuel Cell Research Center and Center for Biomedical Engineering. Additional information is available at www.eng.uci.edu.