Daniewicz named interim mechanical engineering leader
October 13, 2009
STARKVILLE, Miss. –A twice-named Hearin professor of engineering will serve as interim leader of the Bagley College of Engineering’s (BCoE) mechanical engineering department.
Dr. Steve Daniewicz will assume the position of interim department head while the college conducts a nationwide search to fill the position that was most recently held by Dr. Louay Chamra, now engineering dean at Oakland University.
“I am very pleased to announce Dr. Steve Daniewicz as the interim leader of mechanical engineering,” said Dr. Sarah Rajala, BCoE dean. “His leadership and guidance will help us continue to move forward as we work to find the best candidate to serve as the mechanical engineering department head.”
Daniewicz joined the mechanical engineering department in 1994 as an assistant professor and within 10 years worked his way up to the rank of professor. In addition to his teaching duties, he has also served the department as its graduate coordinator. He says he plans to help further the progress he has witnessed within the department.
“I am very excited about my opportunity to lead the mechanical engineering department,” Daniewicz said. “Dr. Chamra has left us after establishing record enrollments and significant momentum in our research programs. I look forward to continued growth in the mechanical engineering program.”
An active researcher, Daniewicz is currently working with grants from the Federal Aviation Administration Technical Center and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. His research thrusts include the development of modified strip-yield models and the use of finite element analysis for prediction of fatigue crack closure and propagation. He has refereed more than 38 journal articles and conference proceedings and co-authored five books on various topics relating to mechanical engineering.
Daniewicz is a member of the American Welding Society, Sigma Xi, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Society for Testing and Materials, which awarded him the Keith Miller Young Investigator Award in 1999. He has twice served as an American Society for Engineering Education summer faculty fellow at the NASA Langley Research Center.
Prior to coming to Mississippi State, Daniewicz worked as a research engineer at Babcock and Wilcox Research Center in Ohio. He holds a bachelor’s in welding engineering from Arizona State University, as well as master’s and doctoral degrees from Ohio State University in welding and mechanical engineering respectively.
Additional information about the Bagley College of Engineering may be found at www.bagley.msstate.edu.