Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering, has appointed Dr. Robin Autenrieth head of the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering. The appointment is effective June 1.
Autenrieth joined the faculty of civil engineering at Texas A&M University in 1986. She is the A.P. & Florence Wiley Professor III and for the past year, has served as the interim department head for the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering.
She has served as PI or Co-PIon $25 million in total research funding that has supported multi-disciplinary teams of engineers, scientists, and more than 65 graduate students who have developed environmental models, testing them in field studies and laboratory experimentation.
The impact of her research, publications, and service on national committees can be assessed by their influence on strategies currently utilized for the destruction of stockpile chemicals, remediation of contaminated sites, and mitigating human exposures.
Throughout her career, she has been involved in numerous outreach programs for STEM education and brought to campus more than 150 STEM teachers from underserved Texas communities to participate in engineering research during the summer.
Currently, Dr. Autenrieth is a Co-PIon the NSF-funded ADVANCE program; Texas A&M University's Advance Center strives to improve the workplace environment for faculty across campus, beginning with those in the STEM fields. Prior to her current position, she served in the dean's office administering undergraduate and graduate programs.