Two faculty members have been honored with distinguished chair faculty positions in the School of Engineering: Drs. Eric Jordan and Emmanouil Anagnostou. They were chosen based on the impact of their research contributions, national reputations and leadership in their areas of expertise.
Dean of Engineering Mun Y. Choi said, “The School of Engineering is richly endowed with visionary, dedicated researchers who are contributing enormously to technological advancement. I applaud Drs. Jordan and Anagnostou for their achievements and look forward to their leadership.”
Eric Jordan, a professor of Mechanical Engineering, was named the United Technologies Corporation Professor of Advanced Materials in recognition of his contributions to analytical and experimental research in the areas of micromechanics of composites, thermal barrier coatings and production of ceramic coatings. In his expanded role, Dr. Jordan will provide leadership and vision in the development of advanced technologies and processes, the enhancement of graduate and undergraduate education, and the elevation of UConn’s visibility and reputation for excellence in materials science and materials processing.
Dr. Jordan is a pioneer in the development of a liquid precursor plasma spray technique for the application of novel coatings and powders. Among the materials he is currently developing are thermal barrier coatings, dense ceramics, optical ceramics and fluorescing seed particles for fluid flow diagnostics. He is a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, a Fellow of ASME and a former Associate Editor for the ASME Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology. Dr. Jordan’s work has been cited over 2,000 times in the literature, and he holds three U.S. patents.
Emmanouil Anagnostou, a professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE), was selected the Northeast Utilities Foundation Chair of Environmental Engineering in recognition of his contributions in the field of hydrometeorology. In addition to providing leadership in research and education in the area of environmental engineering, Dr. Anagnostou will also oversee selection of the Northeast Utilities/Geib Scholarship recipient, coordinate the Northeast Utilities Foundation Distinguished Seminar Series, and support K-12 outreach efforts aimed at enhancing interest in environmental engineering careers.
He received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2002, the European Union Marie Curie Excellence Award in 2005, the European Geophysical Union Plinius Medal in 2002, and a NASA New Investigator Award in 1999. In 2007, he was awarded an Excellence Grant by the European Commission to lead an international team of researchers hosted at the Hellenic Center for Marine Research. The team aims to advance predictive understanding of water cycle at a multitude of scales. His research interests encompass remote sensing of precipitation processes and analysis and prediction of atmospheric and surface hydrologic variables through the assimilation of remotely sensed data in dynamic models and physically based radiometric algorithms.
