Mohsen Asle Zaeem has been named the new head and Cook Eversole endowed professor of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee’s Tickle College of Engineering.
Asle Zaeem joins UT after spending the last seven years at Colorado School of Mines, where he was a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, the Fryrear endowed chair for innovation and excellence, and the director of the postdoctoral affairs and professional development program.
“I am truly honored to join and lead one of the nation’s premiermaterials science and engineering departments,” Asle Zaeem said. “Materials discovery, design, and manufacturing are driving forces behind technological innovation and the competitiveness of U.S. industries. The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UT, with its exceptional faculty and outstanding research and teaching facilities, is poised to reach even greater heights in educating the next generation of highly skilled materials engineers and scientists and in establishing itself as a global leader in materials research.”
Asle Zaeem received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Shiraz University and his PhD in mechanical engineering from Washington State University.
He began his academic career as an assistant and then associate professor of materials science and engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology. From 2022-24, he served as a program director for the Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) program at the National Science Foundation.
Asle Zaeem is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and an active member of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) and the Materials Research Society (MRS). He has published more than 135 peer-reviewed journal articles and delivered more than 55 invited and keynote lectures and presentations at different international scientific conferences.
Among his honors, Asle Zaeem was named a 2024 Brimacombe Medalist by TMS, received the Faculty Research Excellence Award at Colorado School of Mines in 2021, and earned the same distinction at Missouri S&T in 2016.
“I am excited about the future of materials science and engineering at the University of Tennessee,” said TCE Dean Matthew Mench, the Wayne T. Davis Dean’s Chair of the college. “The graduate program’s rank in USNWR was recently released as the 21st public program in the United States, its highest rank in history. Dr. Asle Zaeem will come into a department with tremendous momentum, and a vision to take it even higher. I want to thank Professor Philip Rack, who oversaw the department’s rise during his fantastic service as interim department head.”
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey (865-974-0683, [email protected])