Moving Up: Tuttle Selected as New ME Chair; Allstot becomes Acting Chair for EE
Mechanical engineering gets a new leader
- Mark Tuttle, new Department of Mechanical Engineering chair.
Mark Tuttle, a UW professor of mechanical engineering whose work includes studying the design and durability of the kinds of composite materials scientists say will make up the next generation of air and spacecraft, has been named new chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Tuttle, 51, said he is excited about the prospect of leading a department that is quickly expanding beyond the role traditionally associated with mechanical engineering. Research awards have increased, he added, as have applications for undergraduate and graduate programs. His primary goal as department head, he said, is to foster an environment that maintains the momentum.
“I think it will be important to encourage an atmosphere that continues to stimulate innovative research and collaboration among colleagues, both within and outside of the department,” he said.
Tuttle is well prepared for the task, according to Denice Denton, dean of the College of Engineering.
“Mark has strong experience and background in the mechanical engineering department,” Denton said. “He also serves as director of our new Federal Aviation Administration Center on Composites and has served as chair of the college council, so he has a broad perspective on the college and the university.”
Tuttle’s bachelor’s and master’s degrees are from Michigan Technological University, and he earned a doctorate in engineering mechanics from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1984. He joined the UW faculty in 1985. In 2000, he received a cross-appointment as an adjunct professor in industrial engineering.
He replaces William Wilson, who stepped down as chair last year. Bruce Adee was acting chair in the interim.
New acting chair named for electrical engineering
- David Allstot, new acting chair for the Department of Electrical Engineering.
UW Electrical Engineering has a new acting chair. Professor David Allstot, whose research focuses on radio-frequency integrated circuits and low-power systems, took over as acting chair the beginning of September.
He replaces Bruce Darling, who served as acting chair for a year after former Chair Howard Chizeck stepped down. A nationwide search for a permanent chair is under way. In the meantime, according to Dean Denice Denton, Allstot will be working with faculty and students within the department and with supporters outside of it to move forward with a faculty and graduate student recruitment process and to position the department to take advantage of opportunities related to the public launch of the UW’s $2 billion capital campaign.
Allstot earned his doctoral degree at the University of California at Berkeley in 1979, has worked widely in industry and has held academic positions with Oregon State, Carnegie Mellon and Arizona State universities. He became an electrical engineering professor at the UW in 1999, and currently holds the Boeing-Egtvedt Chair Professor of Engineering.