The Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture announced several leadership changes for the upcoming school year:
Xianming Shi has been named as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. With WSU since 2014, he has served as interim chair during the past year.
Shi conducts research in the area of infrastructure durability and sustainability. He directs the National Center for Transportation Infrastructure Durability & Life-Extension, a U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation center focused on infrastructure durability that includes researchers from 11 universities around the U.S. He also serves as the editor-in-chief for the Journal of Infrastructure Preservation & Resilience. He is a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). In addition to awards by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and from ASCE, he has received several Department of Civil and Environmental awards, including the Outstanding Researcher Award and the Leon Luck Most Effective Professor Award.
Shi holds a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing as well as a master’s degree in industrial and management engineering from Montana State University, a master’s degree from Tianjin University, and a bachelor’s degree from Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology in China. He is a licensed engineer in the State of Montana.
Haluk Beyenal has accepted the position as Voiland College’s associate dean of research and graduate studies. Beyenal will work as part of the college’s administrative team and provide oversight on critical initiatives for the college, including fostering faculty research and creative activity, managing and coordinating research proposals, and directing the college’s graduate student program.
Beyenal, professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, is renowned in the research fields of biofilms, electrochemistry, and environmental microbiology, where he has a research h-index of 57. With WSU since 2006, he has been recognized with several honors, including an NSF Career Award, the Anjan Bose Outstanding Research Faculty Award, and the Tech Connect Defense Medical Innovation Award. He holds a bachelor’s, master’s and PhD in chemical engineering from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey.
Beyenal replaces Dave Field, who will serve as director for WSU’s Institute of Materials Research. Field, a member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences, conducts research in the areas of metal deformation and recrystallization, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, crystallographic texture, grain boundary structure, thin film and integrated circuit interconnect structure/properties relationships, and advanced experimental techniques. He is a fellow of ASM International. He holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Wyoming, a master’s degree from Brigham Young University, and a PhD in mechanical engineering from Yale University.
