October 13, 2017

Trustees approve professorships, administrative appointments, IUPUI department name change, resolution for donors

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (Oct. 13) approved four named professorships and ratified a distinguished professorship and named deanship for the new dean of the College of Science.

The board also ratified Ronald Elsenbaumer’s appointment as chancellor of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, a department name change at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and a resolution of appreciation for donors to the university.

Trustees approved Darcy Bullock as the Lyles Family Professor of Civil Engineering; Luciano Castillo as the Kenninger Professor of Renewable Energy and Power Systems; Manoj Patankar as the Raisbeck Engineering Professor of Aviation Technology; Weng Chew as Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Patrick Wolfe as the Frederick L. Hovde Dean of Science and the William F. and Patty J. Miller Professor of Statistics.

Darcy Bullock Darcy Bullock
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Bullock’s work has focused on intelligent transportation systems, real-time traffic control, image-based vehicle detection and traffic safety. Bullock joined Purdue in 1998 as a civil engineering faculty member. He has been honored by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Transportation Research Board and was named a Purdue University Faculty Scholar, 2005-2010.

Luciano Castillo
Luciano Castillo
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Castillo’s areas of research interest include turbulence and renewable energy. He was cited in the recommendation to the board for his strong leadership in mentoring and inclusion. Castillo joined the Purdue faculty this year. Among his many honors, he has been awarded the NASA Faculty Fellowship and the Martin Luther King Faculty Award.

Manoj Patankar
Manoj Patankar
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Patankar was named to the newly endowed professorship in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute. He has written four books and been successful in directing funded research. Pantankar has worked extensively in the field of aviation safety. He joined the Purdue faculty in 2017. He also is a pilot and aircraft mechanic and a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in the United Kingdom.

Weng Chew
Weng Chew
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Chew’s area of research interest includes electromagnetics, wave physics, and fields and optics. His work examines electromagnetics, fast and efficient computational algorithms for solving scattering and multiphysics problems. He joined the Purdue faculty in 2011 and has earned numerous awards in his field. He has been honored for his teaching and writing, and with more than 400 journal papers and over 600 conference papers, he is a highly cited author.

Patrick Wolfe Patrick Wolfe
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Wolfe, who became dean of the College of Science in July, is a recognized international leader in understanding the behavior of large networks. His work has aided the development of social networks, communication networks and cybersecurity. He has been nationally recognized with numerous awards and honors.

Ronald Elsenbaumer
Ronald Elsenbaumer
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Purdue President Mitch Daniels appointed Elsenbaumer chancellor at IPFW effective Nov. 1. Elsenbaumer most recently has served as an adviser to the president at the University of Texas at Arlington. He also served the university as provost and vice president for academic affairs, vice president for research and federal relations, director of the nano-fabrication research and teaching facility, a professor of chemistry and polymer chemistry, and as a professor of materials science and engineering.

The board also approved a departmental name change at IUPUI. The Mechanical Engineering Department will be renamed the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering. The department is one of the few in the nation to offer bachelor’s programs in energy engineering, and the name change is designed to increase the visibility of those programs.

Trustees also acknowledged donors making gifts of $1 million or more to the university, including Norm and Karen Blake (Intercollegiate Athletics), Rick and DeAnna Rondinelli (College of Pharmacy), Warner Griswold (School of Nursing), Jim and Barbi Hayes (Intercollegiate Athletics), and the Hingst Family (Intercollegiate Athletics). 

Writer: Howard Hewitt, 765-494-9451, hhewitt@purdue.edu 

Source: Jay Akridge, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity, 765-494-9709, akridge@purdue.edu

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