Saxena Stresses Ambitious Goals

It’s probably appropriate that Ashok Saxena became dean of the University of Arkansas’ College of Engineering in 2003.r

The year is recognized as the centennial for the school’s department of mechanical engineering, and Saxena’s work with time-dependent fracture mechanics is internationally renowned. That work focuses on the durability and strength of metal parts in things such as power plant equipment and jet engines.r

Saxena said he’s equally focused on strengthening the UA engineering program’s performance and perception.r

Since arriving in July, he’s already adopted a new mission statement and set a litany of goals for the college that include tripling its research expenditures from $9 million in 2003 to $37 million by 2008 (see chart). Saxena said the college has tremendous technological and entrepreneurial potential.r

It’s for that reason he plans to introduce business course requirements to the engineering college’s graduate programs, a curriculum blend that was previously omitted. His own industrial experience includes eight years at Westinghouse Electric Co. in Pittsburgh, Penn., and 18 months with the National Steel Co. in Weirton, W.V.r

“Our students could very well be looking for entrepreneurial opportunities,” Saxena said. “We’re going to see how we can try to provide them with some business education so they can combine that with their technical expertise.”r

Saxena is the first UA faculty member to hold an endowed chair funded by the $300 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation. That gift, pledged in April 2002, is the largest ever made to a public university in the United States.r

Each research chair is funded through earnings from an endowment principal of $3 million. Saxena’s base salary of $150,000 is supplemented with $75,000 annually from gift earnings for a $225,000 total.r

He serves a distinguished professor of materials science and engineering. Saxena said receiving the Walton-endowed chair is more than just an honor.r

“There are resources that come with this chair,” Saxena said. “I have the resources to hire a couple of Ph.D. students and the resources to send those students to conferences or to talk to program managers in Washington, D.C., about funding our research.”r

Additional goals set by Saxena including growing the number of engineering faculty 32.6 percent, from 92 this year to 122 by 2008. His emphasis will be to increase productivity “on a per faculty member basis,” meaning more research, doctoral graduates and attracting a higher-grade of undergrads. He’s adopted the following mission statement:r

“To become and be perceived as one of the top-tier graduate and undergraduate engineering programs in the country,” Saxena said, “and to assist the University of Arkansas in achieving the vision outlined by the 2010 commission.”r

Saxena replaced Neil M. Schmitt, a UA professor of electrical engineering, who served as interim dean since July of 2002.r

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Cultivating Imager

Saxena came to Fayetteville from Georgia Tech University where he was Regents’ Professor and the former chair of its School of Materials Science and Engineering. Under his leadership, that department improved its national ranking from No. 20 to No. 10 and increased its funding five-fold in five years.r

A native of Delhi, India, Saxena, 54, earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1970. He earned a master’s degree (1972) and Ph.D. (1974) in materials science and metallurgical engineering from the University of Cincinnati. He has authored hundreds of professional papers, lectured at seminars and received additional industrial experience at the GKSS Research Center in Geesthact, Germany, and with the United Nations Development Program.r

He has served as a visiting professor to the National University of Singapore and as Reader in Banaras Hindu University.r

UA Chancellor John White was a coworker with Saxena at Georgia Tech. White said although he was impressed with Saxena there, the UA’s selection committee led by Walton College of Business Dean Doyle Williams made the final pick.r

White said he looks forward to making their former colleagues at Georgia Tech “look with envy” upon the UA College of Engineering.r

“In the search for a Dean of Engineering, it was important to select someone who had ‘been there and done that,'” White said. “By that, I mean someone who had experience at one of the nation’s strongest engineering colleges, who had demonstrated leadership in advancing significantly an academic program, who understood what it takes to achieve nationally competitive status, who valued the breadth of the UA mission, and who was committed to working in partnership with other deans to realize the UA vision.r

“Everything I know about Dr. Saxena fits the bill we had in mind.”r

Saxena said the UA’s engineering program “in substance” compares very well with other campuses he’s seen. But, he said, it’s not yet perceived as a top-tier program.r

“Perception is something you have to work on,” Saxena said. “Not only do you have to do good things, but you have to publicize them in the proper forums. At Georgia Tech, we were consistently ranked in the Top 5 engineering programs. The UA is not even ranked in the Top 100, and the reason is because we have not paid attention to the rankings.”r

White said Saxena has already focused attention on several federal research initiatives such as homeland security, which also could produce commercial applications. Saxena said areas where federal funding is readily available, which also includes nanotechnology, biomedical engineering and energy and environmental disciplines, should be the first components added to the existing strength’s in the college’s research portfolio.r

The UA Engineering Research Center, which houses the Genesis Technology Incubator, has already spawned a nanotechnology firm in Nanomech Inc. Saxena is working to develop nano-structured materials that dramatically increase the load capabilities of metal. Copper, he said, has a strength of less than 10,000 pounds per square inch. As a nano-structured material, Saxena said, its strength is five or six times that.r

“Nanotechnology requires millions of dollars in research equipment,” Saxena said. “We won’t have that equipment if we don’t have a good graduate program.”r

Saxena was the 1992 recipient of the George Irwin Medal from the American Society for Testing and Materials for his pioneering contributions to creep fracture mechanics. He will report to Bob Smith, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, as is the case with all academic deans of the University.r

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Summary: Ashok Saxena, the new Dean of the University of Arkansas College of Engineering, is the first UA faculty member to hold an endowed chair funded by the $300 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.rrr

CHARTr

rGoal Oriented
rAshok Saxena, the University of Arkansas’ College of Engineering dean, has set the following goals for the next five years:tttr

rGoals—2003—2008—% Change
rNo. of Faculty—92—122—t33%r

rUndergraduates
tttrEnrolled—1,615—2500—55%
rDegrees—321—500—56%
r

rMaster’s Students
rEnrolled—224—350—56%
rDegrees—84—150—79%
r

rPh.D. Students
tttrEnrolled—89—275—209%
rDegrees*—11—25—127%
r

rResearch Expenditures
rTotal in Millions—$9.0—$37.0—311%
rDollars per
rFaculty Member—$100,000—$300,000t200%r

r*Given a steady-state value of 50.
ttrSource: University of Arkansas’ College of Engineering