Ching-Long Lin, professor and departmental executive officer of mechanical and industrial engineering, has been appointed the Edward M. Mielnik and Samuel R. Harding Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, effective July 1, 2016.
"Dr. Lin is an internationally recognized research leader who has made seminal contributions to fields ranging from oceanic and atmospheric flows to modeling of the human lung," Alec Scranton, College of Engineering dean, said. "Moreover, his contributions extend well beyond research as he excels as a teacher and a mentor."
Lin also serves as professor of the graduate program in applied mathematical & computational sciences, and is a faculty research engineer at IIHR—Hydroscience & Engineering and a researcher at the Iowa Institute for Biomedical Imaging, Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, and Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute. He earned a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 1986 from National Taiwan University. He earned an M.S. degree in 1989 in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. degree in 1994 in mechanical engineering, both from Stanford University.
The Edward M. Mielnik and Samuel R. Harding Professorship in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering was established through a gift to the University of Iowa Foundation from C. Allan Poots and Dr. Jennifer Niebyl of Coralville, IA.
A former engineering student in the late 1950’s, Mr. Poots went on to become a successful residential developer, building more than 650 homes in the Iowa City area as well as Coralville’s Brown Deer Golf Course.
Dr. Niebyl is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Iowa.
Their gift honors two Engineering faculty members who mentored Mr. Poots as a student, and establishes the first permanent professorship in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. Mr. Poots’s academic mentors and lifelong friends were Professors Edward Mielnik and Samuel R. Harding.
Professor Mielnik was a 1943 graduate of the College of Engineering and received his Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses in materials science and materials processing at the college. He retired in 1983 and died in 2002.
Professor Harding joined the Engineering faculty in 1944. He was superintendent of the Machine Tool Laboratory and instructor in manufacturing processes. He retired in 1960 and died in 1969.
