ByGeorge!
November 2008

University Welcomes Talented New Faculty Members


GW’s newest faculty include (from left to right) Loretta DiPietro, Michael Plesniak, Stuart Licht, and Anu Phene.

By Jaime Freedman

GW’s academic community ncreased in prominence this fall with the addition of 60 new full-time faculty members from across the country and throughout the world.

“We’ve hired some incredible people this year,” says Donald R. Lehman, executive vice president for academic affairs and George Gamow Professor of Theoretical Physics. “Our faculty is growing steadily in strength and prestige under the leadership of our new president, who is firmly committed to moving GW into the top ranks of research universities.”

One of the University’s most prominent new faculty members is internationally recognized aerospace engineer David S. Dolling, the new dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. “We’ve also hired Charles Glazier, a top scholar at the University of Chicago, who will be coming to GW next year as the founding director of the Elliott School’s new Institute for Security and Conflict Studies,” says Dr. Lehman. “We’re delighted that we’ve been able to attract so many world-class faculty members across the disciplines, which says a great deal about GW’s rising stature.”

One impressive newcomer is Stuart Licht, an electrochemist specializing in clean, renewable energy solutions, who directs the chemistry component of GW’s new Institute of Basic Energy Science and Technology on the Virginia Campus. A third-generation chemist with a doctorate from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Dr. Licht previously chaired the Chemistry Department at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and served as a program director in the chemistry division of the National Science Foundation.

“GW’s proactive response to the global crisis of climate change and fossil fuel depletion brought me to the University,” says Dr. Licht. “It’s very exciting to be part of one of the country’s only institutes focusing on renewable energy chemistry. By founding the institute, GW establishes itself as a national leader in educating the next generation of renewable energy scientists.”

A leading chemist in the field, Dr. Licht and colleagues recently developed a vanadium boride-air fuel cell for electric vehicles that stores and delivers more energy than gasoline. “General Electric’s much-touted electric car, ‘Volt,’ coming out in 2010 can only go 40 miles before it needs to rely on gasoline,” he explains. “Our renewable fuel cell opens the door to electric vehicles with viable driving ranges.” Dr. Licht has also conducted pioneering research on generating hydrogen fuel from sunlight and water.

His contributions to the field include some 300 papers and patents ranging from novel efficient solar semiconductor/electrochemical processes to the development of unusual batteries, including a rechargeable, Super-iron battery that lasts much longer and contains fewer toxic metals than conventional alkaline batteries.

“I’m wonderfully excited about the enthusiastic response the institute has received from the GW community,” says Dr. Licht. “The administration, students, and faculty alike are eager to respond to the enormous environmental challenges we are facing, and they are truly behind our efforts.”

Another outstanding new faculty member is Michael Plesniak, who joined the School of Engineering and Applied Science this fall as professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. An expert in fluid dynamics, he earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and was a professor at Purdue University for 17 years. Dr. Plesniak comes to GW after spending four years at the National Science Foundation, where he directed the Fluid Dynamics and Hydraulics Program.

“Through my work with the National Science Foundation and various professional societies, I got to know a number of GW faculty members and became familiar with the University’s reputation,” he says, noting that he was particularly impressed with President Steven Knapp’s emphasis on enhancing the research enterprise.

Dr. Plesniak, a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, has made substantial contributions to the field of turbulent flow physics—for applications ranging from gas turbine cooling to biological flows. “I’ve done work applicable to gas turbine engines for jet planes, and, a few years ago, I got interested in biofluid mechanics, specifically in phonation—understanding aeroacoustics of human speech production,” he says. “I’m also studying cardiovascular flow through stenoses on constrictions in arteries and the long-term effects of stents on blood flow around cells.”

He looks forward to working collaboratively with schools across GW and to leading his department. “I’m very excited to be here at such a pivotal time as GW strives to take science and engineering to the next level,” he says.
Anu Phene, associate professor of international business and a Phillip Grub Professorial Fellow at the School of Business, is also looking forward to making her mark at GW. An associate professor of strategy at the University of Utah since 1999, she specializes in international strategy, firm innovation, and high-technology industries.

A native of Bombay, Dr. Phene worked for American Express Bank in India before receiving her Ph.D. in international management from the University of Texas. Her research focuses on knowledge creation and transfer within and across firms, geographic boundaries of knowledge, multinational firm and subsidiary evolution, and alliance mechanisms.

“I work at the confluence of international business and firm strategy, and was drawn to GW by the many opportunities for collaborative research, the quality and diversity of the students, and the chance to work in D.C.,” she says.
An award-winning teacher, Dr. Phene was named the University of Utah’s David Eccles Faculty Fellow twice and received the Brady Superior Teaching Award. “I enjoy teaching and am really looking forward to getting to know the students at GW,” she says.

Also joining the University this year is Loretta DiPietro, the new chair of GW’s Department of Exercise Science in the School of Public Health and Health Services. Dr. DiPietro comes to GW from the Yale University School of Medicine, where she served as associate professor of epidemiology and public health and a fellow at the John B. Pierce Laboratory.

An accomplished and widely published researcher focusing primarily on the role of physical activity in the health of older adults, Dr. DiPietro specializes in building bridges between population-based public health approaches and the clinical and physiological domains of exercise science.

“Many of today’s critical public health problems can be addressed at least partly through improved nutrition and physical activity,” says Dr. DiPietro, who believes that physical activity will soon become one of the nation’s hottest public health topics.

She says she was attracted by “the progressive nature and policy focus” of the School of Public Health and Health Services. “GW is the only university in the country with the foresight to integrate exercise science across the entire spectrum of public health disciplines,” she explains. “I look forward to the extraordinary collaborative research and educational opportunities here.”

 


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