Richard and Elizabeth Henes Endowed Professors Announced
The Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs is pleased to announce three Henes endowed appointments in the Department of Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics (ME-EM).
William Endres, associate professor, accepted an appointment as a Henes Professor effective July 1, 2021. Due to Endres’s leadership, the department’s Senior Capstone Design program is now a nationally recognized program. ME-EM Department Chair William Predebon noted, “As a former ASME VP and Chair of Engineering Education, which oversees the ME Department Chairs/Heads Committee and ABET, I can say our Senior Design Capstone program has become one of the premier programs under the leadership of Dr. Bill Endres.” As a Henes Professor, Endres will continue to develop the program through collaboration with other College of Engineering departments and securing new industry partners.
Brad King, professor and director of the Space Systems Research Group, has been reappointed as a Henes Professor. As a Henes Professor, King will continue to lead a nationally recognized research program in electric space propulsion systems. King is the faculty advisor for Michigan Tech’s nationally recognized Aerospace Enterprise student team, which was selected by NASA to launch their Oculus satellite in lower earth orbit on June 25, 2019 and recently selected to launch a second satellite, Stratus, in December 2021.
Jeff Naber, professor and director of the Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APSRC), has been reappointed as a Henes Professor. As a Henes Professor, Naber will continue to lead a nationally recognized research program in autonomous and connected hybrid electric vehicles. Naber led the recently completed ARPA-E NEXTCAR I research project on light-duty multi-mode hybrid electric vehicles and was selected in March 2021 to lead the ARPA-E NEXTCAR II research project to increase the range of partially to fully autonomous light-duty multi-mode electric and hybrid electric vehicles, both of which were multi-million-dollar projects.