Summary of Engineering Research

A REPORT OF ACTIVITIES DURING CALENDAR YEAR 1995 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN UIUC PUBLISHED BY THE OFFICE OF ENGINEERING PUBLICATIONS, COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, URBANA, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.

William R. Schowalter, Dean

It is often said that the best way to gauge the priorities and strengths of a complex corporation is to analyze its budget. In many ways The Summary of Engineering Research is an analogous document with respect to the research activities of this college. Many readers of The Summary will have specific interests in the work of a department, a faculty member, or a discipline. In the aggregate, The Summary shows how our faculty set priorities in their research endeavors and how they interact across disciplines, while simultaneously enriching the professional groups to which they belong. The focus of our research is dynamic, shifting with time to match those areas that combine intellectual excitement, useful outcomes, and stimulating challenges.

This record should be especially interesting to students who are contemplating enrollment at UIUC in a graduate degree program administered by the College of Engineering. Students considering advanced work at Illinois will find opportunities ranging from studies of phenomena that lead to the global change of our climate to projects aimed at improving the manufacturing capability of our factories. It is clear from this publication that the frontiers of materials research and the application of unique computational solutions to problems are pervasive areas of inquiry in every discipline.

Students enrolled in our programs are afforded a broad selection of topics for their dissertation research. It is possible to pursue one topic at the master's level and then to converge on yet another for the Ph.D. degree. Very often, students begin their graduate or undergraduate programs in one discipline and later elect to carry the skills and interests they have developed into another field of inquiry.

One of the great strengths of our college is its large and distinguished faculty, a faculty that dedicates its research to the education of our students. In FY95, the college's research funding exceeded $80 million. The programs that are supported represent more than 1600 projects that engage 430 faculty members and almost 200 visiting research staff from industry, from other universities, and from abroad. This rich core of talent has as its most important purpose the education of more than 7300 eminently qualified students dedicated to careers in science and engineering.

We hope this compilation provides clear evidence that our purpose is to educate, to conduct research, and the serve our clients in ways that will enhance the quality of life for all of us.

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 1996

Office of the Dean and Engineering Experiment Station

Anthony F. Graziano, Associate Dean for Administrative Affairs, Director of the Engineering Experiment Station

Sharon K. Bryan, Director of Budget and Resource Planning

Department and Laboratory Heads

Hassan Aref, Professor and Head of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics

Howard K. Birnbaum, Director of the Materials Research Laboratory, Professor of Physical Metallurgy

Stephen G. Bishop, Director of the Microelectronics Laboratory, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Loren E. Bode, Professor and Head of Agricultural Engineering

David K. Campbell, Professor and Head of Physics

Thomas F. Conry, Professor and Head of General Engineering

James Economy, Professor and Head of Materials Science and Engineering

Neil M. Hawkins, Professor and Head of Civil Engineering

W. Kenneth Jenkins, Director of the Coordinated Science Laboratory, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Barclay G. Jones, Head of Nuclear Engineering, Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Sung Mo (Steve) Kang, Professor and Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Duncan H. Lawrie, Professor and Head (until May 1996) of Computer Science, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Daniel A. Reed, Professor and Head (as of May 1996) of Computer Science

Wayne C. Solomon, Professor and Head of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering

Charles F. Zukoski, Professor and Head of Chemical Engineering

Academic Programs

Carl S. Larson, Assistant Dean of Engineering, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

J. Bruce Litchfield, Assistant Dean and Associate Professor of Agricultural Engineering

Paul E. Parker, Assistant Dean of Engineering

Harry G. Wenzel, Jr., Assistant Dean of Engineering, Professor of Civil Engineering

Public, Alumni, and Corporate Relations

William A. Dick, Assistant Dean for External Affairs

Eugene H. Gregory, Associate Dean for External Affairs

Maureen K. Phillips, Assistant Dean and Director of Development

David R. Powell, Director of Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE)

Preston L. Ransom, Assistant Dean of Engineering and Director of Continuing Engineering Education, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Ann R. Sapoznik, Director of Engineering Publications

ACADEMY MEMBERSHIPS

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

* Retired or emeritus status.

INSIDE THE SUMMARY