USC officials continue the search for a new engineering dean as candidate interviews resume today.
Jim Ely of the Colorado School of Mines is the second finalist to speak with USC administrators in a series of interviews and presentations that will conclude Tuesday.
Ely is the current head of CSM's chemical engineering department. He has worked at CSM for 15 years in various positions, including director of the Colorado Institute for Fuels and Energy Research.
As a professor since 1991, Ely has taught over 20 courses at CSM from entry-level to graduate courses and has supervised 13 PhD theses.
Research fundraising, a qualification noted by the College of Engineering and Information Technology Dean Search Committee, has been part of Ely's career at CSM. Ely has raised over $4.3 million since August 1991.
His most recently completed initiative included a thermodynamic evaluation system for pure and mixed chemists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology totaling $75,000 since October 2004.
Ely currently is working on research focusing on thermophysical properties for renewable energy, founded by the National Science Foundation.
"Concern for the environment and the simultaneous need to compete in a global economy" are two issues important to Ely, according to his faculty website. He said efficiently designed chemical process unit operations equipment is the key to achieving these objectives.
Ely is addressing this in a six-student research group that employs applied theory and computer simulation to develop improved engineering models.
The group also researches the equilibrium and non-equilibrium properties of molecular fluids and asymmetric fluid mixtures and other objectives.
Before becoming a professor at CSM, Ely worked at NIST as the associate director of the chemical science and technology laboratory and group leader of the theory of fluids group at various points in his career.
CSM professor Tom McKinnon said Ely is an excellent candidate for the deanship for various reasons.
"He's got very impressive management skills," McKinnon said. "He's good at building concern for his objectives. He's able to articulate very well the department's needs."
McKinnon also said Ely is a "very personable man" and said CSM will be "very sad to see him go," if he receives the position.
Ely has received many honors during his professional career. In 2004, he was one of two professors to receive an Erskine fellowship in the field of chemical and process engineering from the University of Canterbury. Erskine fellows travel to the New Zealand university and lecture to students for one to three months.
He was also awarded a silver medal for meritorious federal service from the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1986. His work in developing predictive models for the thermophysical properties of fluids earned him this citation.
Ely is currently head of 36 faculty and staff members at CSM. If he receives the deanship, he will supervise 100 faculty members and 1300 undergraduate students.
The other candidates include Michael D. Amiridis, professor and chairman of USC's chemical engineering department, and Christine W. Curtis, a chemical engineering professor at Auburn University.
USC will be interviewing Curtis Feb. 1-2. Amiridis will be interviewed
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