Dr. Robin Autenrieth, Department Head and A.P. and Florence Wiley Professor III, is pleased to announce the addition of two new faculty members, Dr. Zachary Grasley and Mr. Jeffrey Otey.
Dr. Zachary Grasley, associate professor and Peter C. Forster Faculty Fellow I, joined the department August 11 from Virginia Tech. Dr. Grasley received his bachelor of science degree from Michigan Technological University and master of science and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Grasley is a member of the transportation and materials engineering division. His research interests include behavior and modeling of porous materials, durability and sustainability of cementitious materials, and mechanics and thermodynamics of concrete. Dr. Grasley is a 2009 recipient of a NSF CAREER Award. Prior to his service at Virginia Tech, Dr. Grasley was an assistant professor at Texas A&M University in civil engineering where he received the 2011 TEES Select Young Faculty Award and 2010 Zachry Excellence in Teaching Award.
Mr. Jeffrey Otey, instructional assistant professor, joined the department in May and is the former Program Director for Engineering Design Graphics and has been with Texas A&M since 2001. He has previously taught ENGR 111/112, ENDG 105, ENDG 407, and AutoCAD and Civil 3D workshops for civil engineering seniors. He is co-author of “Visualization and Engineering Design Graphics with Augmented Reality,” a textbook which interfaces with a web camera, iPad, or smart phone to display three dimensional images which can be manipulated in real time by the user. He is currently developing a sophomore CAD and visualization class which will be offered this fall and on-line modules in support of CAD for the department. Mr. Otey’s research interests include methods to convey quality criteria in CAD models and rubrics which standardize design intent communication.