Jason Blough Named ME-EM's Interim Chair
Jason Blough has agreed to serve as interim chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics (ME-EM). He will officially start July 1, taking over from longstanding chair and faculty member Bill Predebon.
Blough, a professor in ME-EM, has a distinguished career and a thriving research group, and has acquired many honors in recognition of his work, including the honor of Michigan Tech Distinguished Professor in 2021. He is himself a ME-EM graduate, having earned both B.S. and M.S. degrees at Michigan Tech before going on to earn his doctoral degree at the University of Cincinnati.
Blough started his career in ME-EM as an assistant professor in 2003, and before that worked as a research professor at the Keweenaw Research Center. Over the past year, he served as both ME-EM's associate chair and director of Graduate Studies.
"I look forward to Dr. Blough becoming a member of the leadership team of the college and I am grateful for his willingness to serve ME-EM as interim chair," said Dean Janet Callahan.
Blough has been recognized for numerous contributions in teaching, research and service. He is a member of Michigan Tech’s Academy of Teaching Excellence and has received the SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award. He is identified as an international leader in the research area of noise, vibration and harshness, having received the Blue Ribbon Coalition Scientist of the Year Award (2006), the SEM DeMichele Award (2021) and the SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit Award (1997). He is also a Fellow of SAE (2021) and serves as a member of the SAE Snowmobile Committee, responsible for the development of the noise testing procedures used by the industry.
Blough also sits on the Scientific Board of ISMA, the International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering, at Katholieke University in Leuven, Belgium. He has published his research in numerous journals and peer-reviewed conference papers, and given over 30 short courses to industry. Additionally, Blough’s 100-plus funded projects total more than $3.7 million as principal investigator (PI) and $2.3 million as co-PI.
Extremely active in service, Blough has graduated both doctoral and master’s students, chaired an international conference in his field, served on boards, edited papers and journals, and advised Michigan Tech’s SAE student chapter and the SAE Clean Snowmobile Enterprise team for over 15 years. SAE has recognized him multiple times as an outstanding faculty advisor.