Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering, has appointed Dr. Jaime Grunlan holder of the Linda & Ralph Schmidt ’68 Professorship in Mechanical Engineering. The endowed professorship is effective July 1.
Grunlan is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University and is also an affiliated faculty member of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Grunlan earned his bachelor’s degree from North Dakota State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
Grunlan’s research is focused on polymer nanocomposites with transport properties that rival materials and ceramics while maintaining beneficial polymer mechanical behavior. His research group is particularly interested in the development of multifunctional surfaces prepared using the layer-by-layer assembly technology.
In addition, the group is developing fully organic thermoelectric materials that can efficiently convert waste heat to useful voltage.