Endowed Professorships and Chairs
Endowed professorships and chairs are both an important way to help faculty research groups to flourish and a mark of profound generosity from donors to the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.
An endowed professorship is established by a donor making a significant gift (>$500,000) to the department; an endowed chair requires a gift of $1,000,000. The principal is held in perpetuity while the interest is used to fund the endowed professorship or chair. All the endowed professorships and chairs in CHMS are “term appointments,” i.e., the appointments are not permanent but are held for three to five-year terms by the professor who best matches the donor’s criteria. Here is some information about the current CHMS faculty endowments.
Joe and Essie Smith Endowed Chair
This is the first of the endowments, established in 1996 by a gift from Joe and Essie Smith. Joe was the founding chair of CHMS, and his profound contributions are described in the History of the Department. This award funds a five-year period of research and scholarly activity. The current holder is Professor Bill Ristenpart.
Blacutt-Underwood Professorship in Materials Science
This endowed professorship was created by a generous gift from Brian Underwood and Carol Blacutt-Underwood. Brian is an alumnus of CHMS, holding an M.S. degree awarded in 1991. The Blacutt-Underwood Professorship is filled by an individual who exhibits excellence as a professor of Materials Science. In 2009, the Department was pleased to announce Professor Subhash Risbud as the first holder of this position, which is for five years. Funds from the endowment are awarded annually for use by the selected faculty for teaching, research, or outreach. We thank Brian and Carol for their generous support of CHMS.
Jeff and Dianne Child-Steve Whitaker Professorship in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
In their letter establishing the professorship, Jeff and Dianne Child wrote that by establishing this endowment they sought to honor Professor Steve Whitaker, who “is widely regarded as one of CHMS’s finest professors,” and who “influenced Jeff in countless positive ways while he was an undergraduate student.” This professorship rewards excellence, especially in teaching, and provides support for the selected faculty’s educational and research activities. Professor Tonya Kuhl is the first recipient of this prestigious award. We thank Jeff and Dianne for their continued generous support of the Department.
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