Engineering research is a vital component of the national excellence achieved by the Cockrell School of Engineering. Research contributes directly to the quality of graduate classes and plays an important role in exposing undergraduate students to exciting engineering applications. The Bureau of Engineering Research is comprised of 19 organized research centers which focus on a wide variety of exciting and challenging projects. These centers have important programs in aeromechanics; electromechanics; energy studies; petroleum and geosystems engineering; research in mechanics of solids, structures, and materials; research in water resources; space research; transportation research; computer engineering; electrical engineering; electronics; geotechnical engineering; microelectronics research; offshore technology; and environmental engineering.
The Construction Industry Institute, one of the Cockrell School's oldest consortiums, consists of 90 corporations that are users or builders of major industrial facilities. The Phil M. Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory is one of the largest structural engineering facilities in the world. The Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences is an interdisciplinary unit that serves both the Cockrell School of Engineering and the College of Natural Sciences. Its mission is to form interdisciplinary teams with expertise in mathematical modeling and computer simulation to tackle major research problems.
Cockrell School facilities include state of the art teaching and research labs located on the main campus and at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus. A new building has been constructed to house the Texas Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics on the main campus. At the J. J. Pickle Research campus, a $30-million complex houses microelectronics, materials science and engineering, and manufacturing engineering research.
John G. Ekerdt, Associate Dean for Research
John G. Ekerdt is the Associate Dean for Research in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the Dick Rothwell Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering. He is also a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.
Dr. Ekerdt joined the faculty in 1979, after receiving degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (B.S., 1974), and the University of California, Berkeley, California (Ph.D., 1979). At The University of Texas at Austin, he has taught and conducted research within the Department of Chemical Engineering. His research interests include growth and properties of barrier thin films; kinetics and interface chemistry of silicon-germanium alloy nanocrystal dot growth from hydrides; precursor chemistry in thin film growth; thin film and quantum dot self-assembly at interfaces; growth and properties of dielectric films; kinetics and chemistry of biomass conversion.
Dr. Ekerdt has held several administrative posts within and outside the University, including Graduate Advisor during 1985-90 and Department Chair during 1997-2005 in Chemical Engineering, Associate Director of a Science and Technology Center at UT (1999-2001), and Vice Chair of the Chemical Technology Operating Council of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2008). He has more than 190 refereed publications, two books and three book chapters, and five U.S. patents. He has supervised over 36 Ph.D. and 7 M.S. students. Professor Ekerdt was recipient of Charles M. A. Stine Award in Materials Science and Engineering of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2001), Joe J. King Professional Engineering Achievement Award, University of Texas (2005), and is a Fellow of American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2006).