Vijay K. Dhir, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been named dean of UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Dhir, who has served as the school’s interim dean since February 2002, plans to focus on increasing interdisciplinary research, aggressive faculty recruitment, greater engagement with alumni and creating a higher national profile.
UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale, in his announcement to the faculty and staff, said, “We are confident that under Professor Dhir’s leadership the School will continue to rise in performance and stature for many years to come.�
While interim dean, Dhir worked to make UCLA’s Engineering School a hub for interdisciplinary research.
The school was awarded a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center, which is expected to receive $40 million over the next ten years. The Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), directed by computer scientist Deborah Estrin, involves dozens of UCLA faculty from engineering, the physical sciences and education. Just as UCLA was the first node on the Internet, the next incarnation of the Internet — a total communications system permeating the physical world — will be developed at CENS.
The school is also home to the NASA-sponsored Institute for Cell Mimetic Space Exploration (CMISE), directed by Chih-Ming Ho, associate vice chancellor for research and Ben Rich-Lockheed Martin Professor. CMISE brings together a coalition of researchers in engineering, biology, chemistry and medicine, whose work will lead to new technologies for space-based biological experiments, astronaut health monitoring and space vehicle resource management.
Dhir also worked hard for the formation of a new bioengineering department within the school, which the university’s executive board of the academic senate unanimously recommended in June 2002.
As the engineering school continues to attract a growing number of student applicants, Dhir plans to add about 40 new faculty positions over the next three years. This will increase to 175 an already diverse full-time faculty, including three professors who were recently elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering — one of the highest professional distinctions accorded engineers. This brings to 15 the number of National Academy of Engineering members on the UCLA Engineering School faculty.
The engineering school is also moving forward with its plans to upgrade its research and instructional space to better support the work of its faculty, staff and students. With the passage of Proposition 47 on the recent November 5 ballot, the school is closer to realizing its goal of rebuilding a key engineering facility into a state-of-the-art building capable of housing CENS, CMISE and other research centers.
Regarding the appointment, Dhir said, “It is my great pleasure and privilege to serve in this capacity at the School where I started my academic career.
“With its excellent student body, faculty and staff, the School will continue to play a leading role in research, education and service to the community,� he said.
The appointment is effective March 1, 2003, pending approval by the Regents of the University of California.
Born in India, Dhir received his Bachelor of Science degree from Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh, India, in 1965 and his Master of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, in 1968. He came to the United States to continue his university studies in mechanical engineering, receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1972. Dhir joined the faculty at UCLA in 1974.
In the late 1960s he worked for a short period in industry as an engineer, and for the past 30 years he has been a consultant for numerous organizations, including GE Corp., Rockwell International, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Los Alamos and Brookhaven National Labs.
Dhir served as vice chair of the UCLA Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from 1988 to 1991, and was chair of that department from 1994 to 2000. From July 2001 to February 2002, he served as the school’s associate dean for academic and faculty issues.
Dhir is the recipient of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Heat Transfer Memorial Award in the Science category and the Donald Q. Kern award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Dhir is a former assistant editor of Applied Mechanics Review. He was also an associate editor of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Journal of Heat Transfer, and since 2000 he has been that journal’s senior technical editor.
Dhir also leads the boiling heat transfer lab, which has conducted pioneering work in fundamental and applied sciences involving boiling, a process of heat removal. Currently the lab is involved in the study of flow boiling, micro-gravity boiling, natural convection and electronic cooling. Since 1999 a team of researchers led by Dhir has been taking part in a $6 million NASA research program to examine the effects of boiling in space.
More recently, Dhir partnered with UCLA electrical engineering professor Elliott Brown on an innovative method of removing heat from power amplifier chips.