Endowed Professorship Announced
Dr. Richard Behr, department head and professor of architectural
engineering, has been named the first recipient of the Charles and Elinor Matts
Professorship in Architectural Engineering, effective July 8, 2007.
The Matts Professorship was established in 2007 through the generous gift of Charles Matts ’56 and his wife, Elinor, to be used by a scholar for the purposes of research expenditures, education, graduate assistantships and travel expenses.
Charles Matts is the retired co-founder and president of Schick Matts Corporation. A long time friend of the AE Department, Matts was named an Outstanding Engineering Alumnus in 2006. He also serves as a member of the AE senior thesis jury each spring.
Behr joined the AE Department in 1997. Under his leadership the department has achieved dynamic growth including extensive space renovations; new and revitalized research facilities; capital improvements to computer laboratories; and establishment of undergraduate teaching laboratories for hands-on experience, demonstration, and bench-scale equipment.
There has also been important progress in our curriculum, including streamlining and improvement of the core AE undergraduate courses; integration of all the options in our 5th year thesis; overall growth of our graduate program; establishment of the M.Eng. and integrated B.A.E./M.A.E. degrees; and numerous new graduate course offerings focusing on relevant building industry issues.
Behr diligently pursued the hiring of new, highly qualified AE faculty members. Of the current 16 AE faculty members, 11 were hired under his watch. Two of these were the first women faculty members in the AE Department.
Over the past 10 years, annual AE research expenditures from grants and contracts have more than quadrupled from $323,000 to more than $1.2 million. This includes an unprecedented five prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Career Awards. Throughout his tenure as department head, Behr remained active as a researcher in the area of structural performance and durability of building envelope systems subjected to severe windstorm, earthquake, and accelerated weathering effects.
Industry and alumni relations with AE have grown strong steadily through support of department activities such as guest lectures; senior thesis jury; IPAC; AE Career Fair; and PACE. In addition to numerous new endowed scholarships and awards, two graduate fellowships; three academic excellence endowments; two professorships; and the Practitioner Instructor (PI) program have been either established or pledged. This phenomenal support from our friends and alumni will enhance the academic environment for the benefit of AE faculty and students for years to come.
Behr will step down as department head when the current search for a new AE department head is completed, perhaps as early as January 2008.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Richard Behr on being named the first Charles and Elinor Matts Professor of Architectural Engineering and thanking him for ten years of outstanding leadership and service in the AE Department.