Letter from the Chair

In this year's message as representative of all the people of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics at the University of Michigan I would like to ask your indulgence as I reflect on some personal thoughts.

This past year, after concluding my three-year term as Department Chair, I agreed to serve an additional three-year term not without much deliberation. We academics have an instinctive suspicion towards administration and its tools, stemming from our greatly cherished individual freedom to pursue the intellectual challenges that attract us to the classroom or the laboratory. Yet, we also know, perhaps deep inside us, that the public and the world we presume to serve with our technology have its own expectations of us-that we do not always meet. This has been particularly true in the very recent past. University administrations across the country have been working hard to show how the Academy does serve the public interest while also protecting the valuable freedom that breeds intellectual breakthroughs.

Against this backdrop our Department at the University of Michigan has gone through an extraordinary period of change and adjustment. Change has touched the gamut of our enterprise: core curriculum, laboratories, elective courses, professional degrees, student relations, research programs, management structures, links with our alumni, industry and government relations; and most of all, faculty composition. An academic institution is really defined by its faculty. Everything else follows - from the students that come to us, to the research that we conduct and the reputation we have. In this spirit the annual report showcases our new faculty and the outstanding talent they bring to us.

My direct involvement in the recruitment of almost half of our faculty and my desire to see them build, along with our other colleagues, a great future for our Department is what convinced me to continue my service as Department Chair, in spite of the backbreaking balancing acts that I am frequently expected to perform. The enthusiasm of our student representatives, the hard work of our staff, and the leadership of our external advisory board were the clinchers. In the end, it is really a privilege and a great personal opportunity to serve this Department.

With a great sense of pride and expectation I invite you to learn more about us and to participate in our achievements of today and of the years to come.

With best regards,

Panos Y. Papalambros
Professor and Chair