Engineering appoints new director to the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

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DATE: July 6, 2009

Farrokh Mistree, most recently a professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, has been named the L.A. Comp Chair and Director in the University of Oklahoma College of Engineering’s School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. He follows Professor and Lesch Centennial Chair Subramanyam Gollahalli who is stepping down as Director after having led the School for eight highly progressive years. Gollahalli is a leading authority in combustion science and technology, and is looking forward to devoting more time and creative activity to teaching, research and service.

Mistree comes to OU with more than 30 years of experience in academia, beginning as a lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He also served as associate professor and professor at the University of Houston and as professor of the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. He worked with Professor Ward O. Winer, chairman of the Woodruff School from(1988 to 2007, to start the Woodruff School Savannah and served as the associate chairman for the Woodruff School from 2005 to 2008.

Mistree’s design experience spans mechanical, aeronautical, structural and industrial engineering. He has taught courses in engineering design, naval architecture, solid mechanics, operations research, computer science and professional development. Mistree’s research accomplishments are embodied in the scholarship of integration and the scholarship of education. His current interests include strategic engineering; distributed, collaborative, robust design multi-scale systems and simulation-based systems realization; and engineering education.

Mistree has co-authored two textbooks, one monograph and more than 325 technical publications. His distinctions consist of recognition for research and teaching in 1999 and 2001, namely, the ASME Design Automation Design Award in 1999 and the Jack M. Zeigler Woodruff School Outstanding Educator Award in 2001. He has served as an ABET reviewer and the national secretary-treasurer for Pi Tau Sigma mechanical engineering honor society for 13 years. He is a Fellow of ASME, an associate fellow of the AIAA, a Life Member of Phi Kappa Phi, and a member of ASEE and the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.

Mistree earned his bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur in 1967. He received his master of science degree in engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970, followed by his doctoral degree in 1974.

Mistree said he looks forward to working with his colleagues and others in the OU community to realize the strategic plan of the College of Engineering and to help create opportunities for highly motivated and talented people to learn how to define and achieve their dreams.

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