Dear Colleagues,
It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Indranath Dutta as the interim director of the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.
MME’s continued success is essential for the growth and vitality of Voiland College. Therefore, I am pleased to have an individual with Indranath’s insight, capabilities, and experience to serve as the next director.
Professor Dutta joined MME in 2008 and has served in various administrative positions during his tenure at WSU, including a term as the associate dean for research. Prior to joining WSU, he was a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, and he held visiting positions at the Air Force Research Laboratory, the University of Oxford, Motorola, Intel, and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
I believe that Indranath’s leadership experience, coupled with his understanding of the MME program, will enable him to be immediately effective in this interim term. His term will officially begin on July 1, but he has agreed to begin the transition now. Please join me in welcoming him to this new role.
My thanks go to outgoing MME director Michael Kessler, who is off to become the Dean of Engineering at North Dakota State University. Under Michael’s leadership, MME increased in student enrollment, more faculty, higher research expenditures, and many more research publications. Additionally, MME’s mechanical engineering programs have grown in Bremerton and Everett. Each of these activities raised the public awareness of the importance of MME and are helping to advance WSU’s Drive to 25 Initiative.
Finally, I’d like to thank you all for your support and for the warm welcome that you’ve provided to me. I look forward to spending more time with you as I begin my new role as Dean of Voiland College on July 1.
Go Cougs!
Mary Rezac, Dean
Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture