Rose-Hulman Names Department Heads
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowRose-Hulman Institute of Technology has filled two academic leadership roles. The school has tapped Lorraine Olson to head the Department of Mechanical Engineering and David Rader to lead the Department of Mathematics.
July 28, 2014
News Release
Terre Haute, Ind. — Distinguished Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology faculty members Lorraine G. Olson, PhD, and David J. Rader, PhD, have new leadership roles in their academic departments. The appointments were made by Phillip J. Cornwell, PhD, vice president for academic affairs.
Olson is head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, which has the institute's largest student enrollment. She joined the faculty as a professor in 2002, after serving as interim head of the Department of Engineering Mechanics at the University of Nebraska. She received the Rose-Hulman Board of Trustees' Outstanding Scholar Award in 2013, and is a strong proponent for student undergraduate research experiences. She is one of the faculty co-founders for the institute's Independent Projects and Research Opportunities Program.
Olson is an expert at applying finite element methodologies to non-traditional areas, such as ultrasonic cleaning of semiconductor wafers, laser welding, online machine tool monitoring, rotational molding of polymers, wear-resistant coatings, and inverse electrocardiography. She is working with two Rose-Hulman colleagues and several students on a research project, supported by the National Science Foundation, focusing on using inverse problems in the early detection of breast cancer.
During her career, Olson has become a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and has authored or co-authored one book chapter, 40 journal articles, and 92 conference papers, presentations, and reports. She earned her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her husband, Robert Throne, is head of Rose-Hulman's Department of Electrical Engineering, and one of the couple's two children, Samuel, is entering his senior year as a mechanical engineering student at Rose-Hulman.
Rader is head of the Department of Mathematics. He joined the mathematics faculty in 1997 and earned the rank of full professor in 2011. He often teaches upper-level courses in probability, statistics, and operations research, and has authored or co-authored eight journal articles, 27 conference presentations, and the textbook, “Deterministic Operations Research: Models and Methods in Linear Optimization.”
Rader has been a leading contributor to the success of the Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal, one of the few publications to feature the scholarly works of undergraduate college students. He was editor for the past four years, after being assistant editor for 10 years.
Rader earned his doctorate in operations research from Rutgers University. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Richmond.
About Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Founded in 1874, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is dedicated to preparing its students with the world's best undergraduate science, engineering, and mathematics education in an environment infused with innovation, intellectual rigor, and individualized attention. The college, located in Terre Haute, Indiana, has an enrollment of approximately 2,000 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students. For 15 consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report has rated Rose-Hulman as the top undergraduate engineering college in the nation whose highest degree is a bachelor's or master's. Rose-Hulman has also been recognized by The Princeton Review, which cited six of the institute's professors within their 2012 Best 300 Professors book, the only institution of higher learning in Indiana to be included. Learn more at www.rose-hulman.edu.
Source: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology