Staff Report
UNM Provost Brian Foster announced three candidates for dean of the School of Engineering have been selected to participate in interviews and meetings during two-day visits to UNM.
An open forum for all faculty, staff, students and community members will be scheduled for each finalist.
Joseph L. Cecchi, interim dean of the UNM School of Engineering and a Chemical and Nuclear Engineering professor, is scheduled to be interviewed April 30-May 1. Cecchi’s open forum will be on April 30 from 4:30-6 p.m. in the Mechanical Engineering building, room 218.
David C. Hyland, professor and chairman for the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Michigan, will be on campus May 3-4. Hyland’s open forum will be held May 3 from 4:30-6 p.m. in Tapy Hall, room 201.
Subrahmanyam S. Venkata is the professor and chairman of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Iowa State University. Venkata’s open forum will be held May 7 from 4:30-6 p.m. in the Mechanical Engineering building, room 218.
“We are looking forward to hiring a dean with a strong vision and leadership to continue the success of the programs of the School of Engineering,” Foster said in news release. “The three finalists represent an excellent pool. Each would bring a unique set of strengths to the position.”
Cecchi has served as interim dean of the School of Engineering since November. He has been a Chemical and Nuclear Engineering professor and chairman of the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department since 1994. From 1991-1994, he was the director of the New Jersey SEMATECH Center for Excellence for Plasma Etching. From 1988 to 1994, he was a lecturer with the rank of professor for the Chemical Engineering Department at Princeton University.
While at Princeton, he also served as director of the graduate program in Plasma Science and Technology, head of the Plasma Processing Group, lecturer for the Department of Chemical Engineering, principal research physicist for the Plasma Physics Laboratory, head for the Materials Physics Group and research physicist for the Plasma Physics Laboratory.
In addition, Cecchi was a teaching fellow at Harvard University and a research associate for the Physics Division at Argonne National Laboratory. Cecchi received his doctorate and master’s degrees from Harvard University, and his bachelor’s degree from Knox College.
Hyland joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1996. He is now a professor and chairman of the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Michigan. From 1983 to 1994, he organized and subsequently led the Structural Control Group within the Government Aerospace Systems Division of Harris Corporation. In 1994, he was assigned to the senior staff of the Vice President of Engineering of the Aerospace Division. He has served as technical staff of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cambridge Collaborative, Inc. Hyland received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT.
Venkata has been a professor and chairman of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Iowa State University since 1996 and an affiliate professor at the University of Washington since 1997. He was a professor at the University of Washington from 1979-96 and director of the Electrical Energy Industrial Consortium from 1993-1996. He has served as chairman for the Electric Energy Group and Graduate Program Coordinator at the University of Washington for several years.
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He has held positions in Universitat Duisburg in Germany, West Virginia University, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, University of South Carolina, Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, and Coimbatore Institute of Technology in India. He received his doctorate from the University of South Carolina, his master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India, and his bachelor’s degree from Andhra University in Waltair, India.
