{"72177":{"#nid":"72177","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Longtime Mechanical Engineering Chair to Retire","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWard Winer, the Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair of Georgia Tech\u0027s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Regents\u0027 Professor, will retire later this year after nearly two decades as chair and 38 years at Tech. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Chair Gary May is heading the search committee to find a new chair.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Ward Winer has been an advocate, teacher, colleague, friend and a leader for the Woodruff school,\u0022 said College of Engineering Dean Don Giddens. \u0022We owe him a great debt for his effective leadership and stewardship of mechanical engineering. The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering has flourished under Ward\u0027s watchful eye to being in the top ten programs in the country.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EUnder Winer\u0027s leadership, Tech\u0027s mechanical engineering program has grown exponentially to become the largest in the country (in addition to being the largest undergraduate program at Tech), and is consistently ranked as one of the best in the country by U.S. News \u0026amp; World Report. The school\u0027s rank has moved from between No. 26 and No. 50 in the early 1980s to No. 6 and No. 7 this year for its mechanical engineering undergraduate and graduate programs, respectively. The Woodruff School endowment has increased from $3 million in 1988 to $100 million this year, including the $65 million George W. Woodruff endowment.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen Winer joined mechanical engineering (ME) in 1969, the school had 25 faculty members. Now, it has more than 100, including research faculty and academic professionals. When he became chair (then called director) in 1988, the school had two endowed chairs and three professorships; now the school boasts 10 endowed chairs and 5 professorships. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I am very pleased to have played a role in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech,\u0022 said Winer. \u0022I consider my greatest achievement as chair to have been my ability to hire and retain excellent faculty and staff. It is these people who attract outstanding students, which results in outstanding alumni, which, in turn, makes the reputation of the school.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs chair, Winer also helped oversee the establishment of cornerstone mechanical engineering programs at two new campuses, Georgia Tech Savannah and Georgia Tech Lorraine in Metz, France.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022During his time as chair, the school and its programs have soared, so that as he now hands off the leadership, it is clearly recognized as one of the finest in its field,\u0022 said Ronald Rousseau, chair of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. \u0022I have often watched with admiration as he brought grace to countless events, always knowing just the right thing to say in introducing a guest, asking a difficult question or presenting a point of view.\u0022  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWiner came to Georgia Tech from the University of Michigan in 1969 as an associate professor of mechanical engineering and was named director of the mechanical engineering school in 1988.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWiner is an honorary member and a Life Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the Tribology Gold Medal from the British Tribology Trust in 1986. Winer was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1988 and has served on the mechanical engineering advisory boards for Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Ward Winer, longtime chair of the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, will retire later this year after nearly 20 years as the head of Tech\u0027s mechanical engineering program, the largest in the United States.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Winer retiring after nearly 20 years as chair"}],"uid":"27281","created_gmt":"2007-05-07 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:00:50","author":"Lisa Grovenstein","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2007-05-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2007-05-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"72178":{"id":"72178","type":"image","title":"Ward Winer","body":null,"created":"1449177434","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:17:14","changed":"1475894651","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:11"}},"media_ids":["72178"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/","title":"George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2377","name":"ME chair"},{"id":"541","name":"Mechanical Engineering"},{"id":"2376","name":"Ward Winer"},{"id":"2378","name":"Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Grovenstein\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=lgrovenste3\u0022\u003EContact Lisa Grovenstein\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-8835\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}