Contact: Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A veteran Mississippi State academic administrator now is the permanent director of the university's Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems.
Roger King, previously associate dean of research and graduate studies for MSU's Bagley College of Engineering, recently was appointed to the position he has held on an interim basis since July.
Dean Sarah Rajala said King's contributions to the college have enabled MSU to be among the nation's leading research institutions. The land-grant institution now ranks in the top 10 percent among engineering research expenditures of more than 350 U.S. engineering schools.
"During his time as associate dean for research in the Bagley College of Engineering, Roger facilitated a significant increase in research funding, worked with the departments to grow the graduate program and enhanced the extension and outreach activities," Rajala said. "I am confident that he will effectively apply his leadership skills to move CAVS and our college to new heights."
MSU's automotive research program was established in 2001 as part of the state's successful bid to attract the Nissan Motor Co. manufacturing plant near Canton. CAVS formally came into being in late 2003 as an interdisciplinary center comprised of engineering, research, development, and technology transfer teams focused on enhancing human and payload mobility.
Over time, the center's research activities have focused on material science, manufacturing process modeling, computational mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, multi-scale modeling, and vehicular systems engineering, among other areas.
King is a William L. Giles Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Giles Professors hold the highest MSU faculty recognitions.
Under King's tenure as associate dean, the college established the Engineering Engagement and Outreach Service, which, in cooperation with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Mississippi, collectively generated more than an $800 million impact for the state and created 280 jobs.
To help the state provide a highly trained workforce both to existing and new companies, he developed the college's distance education program designed primarily for working professional engineers unable to take traditional courses. In addition to offering an interdisciplinary master's degree program online, it also provides a flexible, graduate educational experience for employees throughout the Southeast.
Some other initiatives that King--a doctoral graduate of the University of Wales in the United Kingdom--helped establish include:
--"Gateway to the West," a partnership with San Jose State University that allows engineers in California to earn an MSU doctoral degree without leaving the West Coast campus or their Silicon Valley jobs.
--An educational partnership between MSU and Wales's Cardiff University to share best practices and outcomes for generating research and economic development projects. In appreciation, Cardiff honored King with its highest award for ensuring that students can learn from scholars, scientists and practitioners working at the leading edge of their discipline.
Under his interim leadership, CAVS merged with the university's Computational Simulation and Design Center. The organizational change allowed both centers to share a common theme of high performance computing without competing for the same resources.
CAVS has expanded its mission from a sole focus on ground vehicles to the broader definition of a vehicle as any means in or by which someone travels or something is carried or conveyed. This broader definition gives the center a larger mission to better incorporate the expertise of the SimCenter faculty.
For additional biographical information, visit http://www.engr.msstate.edu/media/news/index.php?newsID=474.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.