Interim Dean Kazem Kazerounian announced three new appointments in the School of Engineering in response to one pending retirement and the formation of two new departments.

Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education and Diversity Marty Wood will retire from his long-standing position effective June 30. Following an internal search, it was announced that Dr. Dan Burkey, Associate Professor in Residence of CMBE, will succeed Dean Wood as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Diversity effective July 1.  Dr. Burkey served as Associate Department Head of CMBE (2010-2012) and helped to reshape and refocus the chemical engineering curriculum. He oversaw the renovation of the chemical engineering senior laboratory, including securing funding and equipment donations for the renovation, and reconfigured the accompanying course to ensure that students are exposed to the latest techniques, experimental apparatuses and equipment used by industry, from the nanoscale to the pilot-plant scale. His research background is in the field of chemical vapor deposition, including work in conductive polymers, biocompatible polymer thin films, and dielectric materials. Dr. Burkey was honored as the AIChE Teacher of the Year (UConn chapter) in 2010-11 and 2011-12.  He received his Ph.D. from MIT in 2003.

With the Board of Trustees’ approval in December of the establishment of two new stand-alone departments – Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) and Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) – formal internal searches were conducted to identify Department Heads for the two new units.  Dean Kazerounian announced the new heads will be professor S. Pamir Alpay as Head of the MSE Department and professor Doug Cooper as Head of the new CBE Department.

Dr. Alpay joined UConn in 2001 and has established an impressive record of accomplishment during his 12 years at UConn.  He holds a joint appointment with the Department of Physics, is affiliated with the Institute of Materials Science, and served as the Materials Science & Engineering Program Director within the former Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering Department.  His research focuses in the general area of functional materials including ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and shape memory thin films and multilayer heterostructures, compound semiconductor films/nanostructures, functionally graded ferroics, and conducting oxides. Dr. Alpay held the United Technologies Corporation (UTC) Professor in Engineering Innovation from 2008-2010, was awarded the Outstanding Junior Faculty Award in 2004, and received an NSF Early Career Development (CAREER) Award in 2001. In addition, he was elected a member of the Connecticut Academy of Sciences and Engineering in 2012.  He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering in 1999 from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Cooper joined UConn in 1985.  His previous administrative posts include Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Regional Campus Administration (2010-11), Interim Vice Provost for Regional Campus Administration and Continuing Studies (2009-10), Department Head of Chemical Engineering (2004-06), and Director of Engineering Computing Services (2001-04).  In addition, he is the founder and a Board member of Control Station, Inc., Tolland, CT. Dr. Cooper was elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering in 2004.  He was named the Connecticut Professor of the Year (Carnegie Foundation) in 2004, a University Teaching Fellow in 2003, and the recipient of a UConn Alumni Association Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award in 2001.  His research interests include advanced process modeling, monitoring and control; software tools for process control system analysis; design, tuning and training; and entrepreneurship, creativity and life-long learning. Dr. Cooper is PI on a $2.7 million 2010-15 grant from NSF entitled “GK-12: Ingenuity Incubators Prepare Technical High School Students for College Engineering.”  He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado in 1985.