Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A veteran faculty member and administrator is being named interim vice president for research and economic development at Mississippi State University.
W. Glenn Steele, a William L. Giles Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MSU, will assume the post that until this week has been held by Kirk Schulz, recently named president of Kansas State University.
"Dr. Steele has an outstanding record in sponsored research, publications and administrative leadership," said MSU President Mark Keenum. "He is highly regarded nationally for the caliber of his research program, and has earned the respect of the campus community. We are delighted he has agreed to serve in this role."
Steele, who also holds the title of Bobby Shackouls Professor in the Bagley College of Engineering, currently is co-director of the Sustainable Energy Research Center, a multidisciplinary effort that seeks to identify alternative energy sources. He also is serving as interim director for another campus center, the Institute for Clean Energy Technology, and as co-director of the Energy Institute in the Bagley College.
From 1990-2008, Steele served as head of MSU's mechanical engineering department, and on three different occasions served as interim dean of engineering. His research areas include heat transfer, fluid mechanics and uncertainty analysis.
He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, an associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a member of many other professional organizations.
Based on total research and development expenditures, the National Science Foundation currently ranks Mississippi State 58th among the nation's public universities. MSU ranks 34th in engineering and fifth in agricultural R&D.
"We're confident that under Dr. Steele's interim leadership, the university will continue to build on this momentum," Keenum said.
A national search currently is under way to fill the position permanently, he added. A broad-based committee, headed by Bagley College Dean Sarah Rajala, is leading the search.