DEPARTMENT MECHANICAL AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Missouri University of Science and Technology
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
Dear Colleagues and Friends:
It is with great pleasure that I provide you with our 2011 Annual
Scholarly Activities Report for the Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering. You will find our enrollment continues to be
strong in both the undergraduate and graduate programs, resulting in
our granting roughly 25% of the degrees on the Missouri University
of Science and Technology campus. Our undergraduate students received
a record number of scholarships awarded by our department.
Our faculty continue to provide our graduate students with new
funding and educational opportunities. For example, our Seminar
Committee developed a strong slate of speakers this year, attracting
to our campus an impressive list of colleagues with national and international reputations.
Amidst the strong student enrollments our faculty have continued to develop their nationally
and internationally recognized research programs through their scholarly activity which
is highlighted in this report. Our research activities have been bolstered by the growing
research programs of our junior faculty. MAE has two new faculty this year, Jie Gao and
Xiaodong Yang, whose expertise includes nano-photonics and light-matter interactions. We
are pleased with the great energy and passion they bring to their teaching along with the
significant potential of their research and collaborative prospects with the other faculty in
the department and on campus. We will continue to recruit new faculty talent to the MAE
Department as we plan to grow our faculty size to meet the strong demand for mechanical
and aerospace engineers. You will see our faculty contributing in many different ways, but
their efforts are all critical to the vitality of our department and campus. As you review our
2011 Annual Scholarly Activities Report, I believe you will agree that the faculty along with
our outstanding staff form a department of significant strength and potential focused on
bringing excellence to the education of our students.
PUBLICATION TEAM
Kimber O’Neal - Managing Editor
Brianna Bales
Lila Kolker
Gail Richards
Kathy Wagner
Cathy Williams
Dr. Jim Drallmeier
Curators’ Teaching Professor and Chair of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Missouri University of Science and Technology