The following professors have received new titles approved by U-M Regents in February of 2020.
Shanna Daly
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor
The Regents have honored Daly with the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor title. To become a Thurnau professor, faculty members must demonstrate a strong commitment to teaching and learning, excellence and innovation in teaching, and dedication to working effectively with a diverse student body.
Daly joined the U-M mechanical engineering department in 2015 as an assistant professor. Her research focuses on design education, socially-engaged design, socio-technical engineering skillsets, and convergent thinking. In 2021, Daly co-authored a paper on a study regarding equitable transportation and how the design of public transit services, such as bus routes, sidewalks, and highways, can impact underserved communities’ access to basic needs. She is also taking part in a current study examining engineering education and how a greater focus on human and social aspects could support more diverse engagement in the field and ultimately lead to better engineering solutions.
Dawn Tilbury
Herrick Professor of Engineering
Effective February 2022 through January 2027, the Regents have approved Dawn Tilbury as a Herrick Professor of Engineering. The mechanical engineering department will hold a lecture event on Monday, May 2, 2022 to honor Tilbury. (A lecture recording will be posted at this link: http://leccap.engin.umich.edu/leccap/site/jj46unbh04hbqcgxumi)
Tilbury joined the U-M mechanical engineering department in 1995 as an assistant professor. Since then she has held and still holds several roles such as associate dean for research for the College of Engineering and in 2017 NSF appointed Tilbury to lead its Directorate for Engineering for four years. She has now joined the Office of the Vice President for Research to advance a new strategic endeavor that infuses social and technical expertise to address complex challenges facing future communities.
Margaret Wooldridge
Walter J. Weber, Jr. Professor of Sustainable Energy, Environmental and Earth Systems Engineering
Effective February 2022 through January 2027, the Regents have approved Margaret Wooldridge as a Walter J. Weber, Jr. Professor of Sustainable Energy, Environmental and Earth Systems Engineering. The mechanical engineering department will hold a lecture event on Monday, May 9, 2022 to honor Wooldridge. (A lecture recording will be posted at this link: http://leccap.engin.umich.edu/leccap/player/r/55z6Gw)
Wooldridge is also an Arthur Thurnau Professor of mechanical engineering and her research focuses on combustion, pollution mitigation, and gas dynamics. In 2019, Wooldridge released research on how siloxanes in everyday products like shampoo and motor oil end up in landfills and as a result, supercharges the biogas those landfills produce. Mor recently, during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic Wooldridge assisted in research into the spread of the virus during dental services and was able to help gather data to make informed decisions on how to safely continue services at U-M School of Dentistry.
