Jayathi Y. Murthy, a professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, has been named chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.
Murthy, the first woman to chair the Mechanical Engineering Department, begins her position Jan. 1, 2012.
"Jayathi brings a wide array of experience and strategic insight to her new position as chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department," said Gregory L. Fenves, dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering. "We are excited to have her join our leadership team."
In addition to her faculty role at Purdue, Murthy has been director of the National Nuclear Security Agency's (NNSA) Center for Prediction of Reliability, Integrity and Survivability of Microsystems (PRISM) since 2008. As director, Murthy has led research involving large-scale simulation of micro-electro-mechanical systems. The research center is funded by NNSA, part of the U.S. Department of Energy.
"During her tenure as director of PRISM, Jayathi has led many interdisciplinary and collaborative projects that complement our mission at the Cockrell School," Fenves said. "Also, her years working with the growing engineering software company Fluent Inc. offers our students real world perspective on commercialization of technology."
As chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Murthy will oversee the education of about 1,400 undergraduates and 320 graduate students, and work with about 63 faculty members.
Murthy's research interests focus on the development of novel and broadly applicable computational techniques for flow, heat and mass transfer. Recent work has addressed sub-micron thermal transport and the development of numerical techniques for micro-electro-mechanical systems, micro- and nano-electronics and for emerging energy technologies.
