Postelle Professor, Chancellor’s Professor, and Department of Nuclear Engineering Department Head Wes Hines has announced his plans to retire at the end of next year, after 29 dedicated years with the university. A search for his successor has begun.

“Dr. Hines has played a critical role in helping elevate the profile of our nuclear engineering program to among the best in the nation,” said Tickle College of Engineering Dean Matthew Mench, the Wayne T. Davis Dean’s Chair of the college. “The trajectory of the department remains strong, and with growing capabilities thanks to its home in the new Zeanah Engineering Complex should make it a very attractive position.”

Hines joined the department as research assistant professor in 1995, was promoted to full professor in 2005, and became department head in 2011. At that time, he was serving as interim vice chancellor for research. He also served a stint as interim associate dean for research and technology for the college from 2008-09.

“It has been a pleasure serving the college and having the opportunity to work with an excellent team,” Hines said. “We have worked together to transform our department into one of the largest and most scholarly nuclear engineering departments in the country. This is entirely due to the hard work of the faculty, staff, and students. I look forward to seeing this department’s success continuing for the next decade as the country embraces carbon free nuclear power and we continue to fight cancer with nuclear based diagnostics and therapeutics.”

Hines earned his bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Ohio University in 1985 and attended US Naval Nuclear Power School in Orlando, Florida in 1986 before working as a Naval officer on nuclear submarines from 1987-90. He earned an MBA in 1992 and a master’s and doctorate in nuclear engineering from Ohio State University in 1992 and ’94, respectively, after his time in the Navy.

He is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and has been honored by the group several times, including the Robert L. Long Training Excellence Award, the H.M. Hashemian Mid-Career Award, and the Arthur Holly Compton Award in Education, given as a lifetime achievement award for contributions to nuclear science or nuclear energy education.

Outside of the ANS, Hines is a recipient of the American Society for Engineering Education’s Glenn Murphy Distinguished Nuclear Engineering Educator Award, a Fellow of the International Society of Engineering Asset Management, an Ohio State Distinguished Alumni Award winner from both the college of engineering and the mechanical engineering department, and has won several UT accolades during his time in Knoxville.