Strykowski named associate dean for undergraduate programs

Institute of Technology Dean Steven L. Crouch has appointed University of Minnesota mechanical engineering Professor Paul Strykowski as the college’s associate dean for undergraduate programs. The half-time appointment is effective July 1, 2007. Strykowski will split his time between his new duties as associate dean and as a faculty member in the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Strykowski replaces Peter Hudleston, the current Institute of Technology’s associate dean for student affairs, who has decided to step down from his role after 12 years to return full time to the faculty in the Department of Geology and Geophysics in August.

As associate dean for undergraduate programs, Strykowski will be responsible for devising and implementing a reorganization of the existing Institute of Technology student affairs operations during the 2007-08 school year. This will include revamping the advising system for lower division students and the hiring of a full-time assistant dean for student services.

On-going duties of the associate dean for undergraduate programs include supervising Institute of Technology student services staff responsible for undergraduate student recruitment, academic advising (lower division), honors and undergraduate research opportunities, Career Center for Science and Engineering activities, international programs and study abroad opportunities, student diversity programs, K-12 outreach, and the accreditation process for engineering programs.

A strong advocate for undergraduate students, Strykowski has more than 19 years of experience as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota. He has won numerous teaching awards including the University’s Horace T. Morse Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education, the Charles E. Bowers Faculty Teaching Award, and the George W. Taylor/Institute of Technology Alumni Society Award for Distinguished Teaching. Strykowski also has served on the University’s General Research Advisory Committee since 1997 and has served as the committee’s chair since 2005.

Strykowski teaches classes in a variety of mechanical engineering areas including thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, gas turbine engines, combustion, and experimental methods. His research interests include fluid mechanics from micro-scale liquid flows to supersonic gas flows. His research group is currently studying the hydrodynamic stability of very low-density jets, the efficient and low-drag combustion in ramjet engines, the ability to burn raw vegetable oils in gas turbines, as well as the thrust vector control of supersonic engine exhaust. He has published dozens of journal publications and book chapters on his areas of research.

Strykowski received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982, and an M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Yale University in 1983, 1985, and 1986, respectively.