Changes in the Guard

Thanking Them for Their Service

Greg Hulbert

Professor Greg Hulbert served as Undergraduate Program Director and ME Associate Chair between June 2002 and December 2006. He has been responsible for the annual teaching plan and for coordinating the continual process of assessing and improving our ME undergraduate curriculum, which culminated in the very successful ABET review and accreditation of our program until 2011. During Greg's term, student enrollment in our undergraduate program has returned to its all time high level (over 660 students). Despite the record enrollment Greg continued to foster an environment for excellence in instructional delivery, and for the first time, all ME required undergraduate courses reached three-year averages above 3.0/5.0 for both the Q1 and Q2 scores.

Arvind Atreya

Professor Arvind Atreya has served as ME Associate Chair and Director of our Graduate Program between September 2003 and December 2006. Professor Atreya has overseen the development and implementation of methods to improve the graduate application review and recruitment process and shared best practices with other departments. During Arvind's term, our graduate program reached an all time high enrollment of over 500 students and graduated the highest number of Ph.Ds in a single year in our history with a significant number of them accepting positions in academia. Arvind has led the effort to assess various alternatives for revamping the Ph.D. qualifying exam process, thus laying the foundation for the major reform which is being implemented as of fall 2007.

Marcy Brighton

Marcy Brighton, Administrative Manager of the ME Department between January 2000 and September 2006, has been promoted to Director of Resource Management and Planning in the College of Engineering. Marcy's contributions to the ME Department will be dearly missed. Marcy has been committed to excellence and provided dedicated service to our Department and the College, which has been recognized by the CoE Staff Excellence Award and the UM Workplace Finalist Award. She always upheld high standards of professionalism, perfectionism, ethics and fairness. She has had a tremendous impact on improving staff morale in our department while improving the quality of staff services.

Welcome On Board

David Dowling

Professor David Dowling is the new Associate Chair in charge of the Undergraduate Program since January 2007. His research in the fields of acoustics and fluid mechanics ranges from fundamentals to their applications to fans, mufflers and washing machines. He is a demanding and respected teacher at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has successfully developed and regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in acoustics. He has also played a leadership role in developing and revamping the required junior laboratory course ME 395. He has previously served the ME Department as a member of the Undergraduate Program Committee, the Faculty Search Committee and the Advisory Committee. As part of his new role he will lead the efforts to continue to improve our undergraduate curriculum.

Karl Grosh

Professor Karl Grosh is the new Associate Chair in charge of the Graduate Program since January 2007. His research interests are in cochlear mechanics, the biomechanics of growth, and the design and fabrication of electroacoustic transducers. Professor Grosh is an effective instructor, both inside and outside of the classroom, who is described by students as "enthusiastic," "animated" and employing an "extremely effective teaching method." He is particularly skilled working one-on-one with students, whether in office hours for his courses or in research meetings with his graduate students. He has previously served on the ME and BME Undergraduate Program Committees, the ME Advisory Committee and the College's Scholastic Standing Committee. In his new role he will spearhead the revamping of our graduate core curriculum.

Merlis Nolan

Merlis Nolan is the new Administrative Manager of the ME Department effective November 2006. Prior to her current position, she has been the Administrator of the Department of Biological Chemistry in the Medical School (2003-06). Merlis projects contagious energy and enthusiasm, and has great communication and interpersonal skills. Her approachable personality and her open - and with a sense of humor - supervisory style, infuses excitement to the staff, faculty and students she interacts with. Merlis has had direct experience with many of the elements of the typical operation of a smaller UM Department and she is ready for the challenge and growth opportunity that ME presents to her.