Department News

Visit us online:
ee.utk.edu/ee/

Dr. Mohammad A. Karim
EE Department Head

Dr. Karim

Dr. Mohammad A. Karim was named department head for the electrical engineering department in June 1998. Karim received his B.S. in physics from Dhaka University in Bangladesh, and received a master's degree in both physics and electrical engineering from the University of Alabama. He also received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from UA.

Karim was previously chairperson and professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Dayton, Ohio. He is a fellow of the Optical Society of America and the Society of Photo-Instrumentation Engineers.

"This is truly an exciting time for UTK's electrical engineering department," Karim said. "We are now poised to make some very significant transitions during the next few years."

Karim and his wife, Setara, have three children: Lufti, Lamya and Aliya.

The EE department is in the planning stage for a stand-alone Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering degree. The curriculum for the program has already been developed, and the proposal for launching the program for the Fall 1999 semester has been approved by the COE faculty and UT's Undergraduate Council.

The EE department has recently been awarded several research grants including the following:

• Fugi Electric Company of Japan is providing an initial grant of $15,000 for the Power Electronics Research Lab directed by Dr. B.K. Bose.
  
  

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a research contract for the development of a sterilizing filter that can capture greater than 99 percent of microorganisms similar to those which cause tuberculosis and Legionnaires disease. Dr. Reece Roth is leading this study. The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a second research contract for the development of a non-chemical method to sterilize surfaces that have been contaminated by deadly biological warfare agents.
  
  

• The Consortium for Plasma Science has funded a multidisciplinary research project at UTK to study the ability of electrically charged particles to rapidly sterilize plasma therapeutic products. Dr. Reece Roth is the investigator for this project.

New Faculty:
Dr. Danny Newport
Dr. Alveronon Walker

Retiring Faculty:
Dr. T. Vaughn Blalock (May 99)
Dr. R.C. Gonzalez (Dec. 98)
Dr. James C. Hung (May 99)
Dr. Eldredge Kennedy (May 99)
Dr. Fred Symonds (May 99)

Search:
The EE department is undergoing a search for five tenure track faculty members.

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Visit us online:
engr.utk.edu/ie/

Dr. Tom Shannon IE
Acting Department Head

Because of the renovations planned for the Alumni Memorial Building, the IE department has relocated. If you need to reach the department, please call (423) 974-3333. The new -department address:
416 East Stadium Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-0700

Dr. Bontadelli

Dr. Ken Kirby and Dr. Jim Bontadelli are leading a research project for the Maintenance and Reliability Center (MRC) related to the continuous improvement ofreliability and maintenance practices in industry, and the economic evaluationand justification of investments required to support the improvement process. The project, scheduled for completion in August 1999, is sponsored by three MRC member companies.

Dr. Kirby

Kirby is also developing a new graduate-level course in maintenance and reliability management for the MRC as part of an effort -supported by a National Science Foundation grant.

Dr. Hal Aikens served as the external academic reviewer for the Graduate Program Review of the Master of Science in Engineering (Industrial and Systems Engineering) program at the University of Michigan at Dearborn.

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Visit us online:
engr.utk.edu/dept/mse/

Dr. Joseph Spruiell
MSE Department Head

The UTK Materials Joining Group has just completed and inaugurated a nondestructive examination laboratory of ultra- sonic inspection of high temperature components. Led by Dr. Carl Lundin and Dr. Gang Zhou, the project was sponsored by the Materials Properties Council in close cooperation with the Center for Materials Processing. Three students, William Ruprect, Mark Morrison and Jinshan Qu, also participated in the laboratory development.

The lab has hosted several training sessions for industry representatives this year. The lectures during the week-long seminar are supplemented by hands-on training exercises. With increasing demand to identify and rectify potential sources of creep damaged pipe, the NDE facility will continue to serve industry as a source of education and training.

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