Dr. Venkat Allada, professor of engineering management and systems engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, will become vice provost of graduate studies for the university effective June 18.
The position was created as part of an administrative restructuring that eliminated the university’s four main academic units: the School of Engineering, School of Management and Information Systems, School of Materials, Energy and Earth Resources, and College of Arts and Sciences.
As vice provost for graduate studies, Allada will coordinate graduate programs with UMR’s academic departments. His responsibilities will also include overseeing graduate fellowship programs, reviewing graduate degree and certificate programs, and developing funding opportunities for graduate programs.
A member of the UMR faculty since 1994, Allada also serves as associate chair of engineering management graduate studies and director of UMR’s Sustainable Design Laboratory.
“Dr. Allada’s new role will become increasingly important as we seek to grow our graduate programs,” says Dr. Warren K. Wray, UMR’s provost. “His experience in recruiting and working with graduate students and his experience with graduate distance learning delivery will also be critical as we transition into a new administrative model.”
Allada will report to Wray. The new administrative structure will take effect July 1.
An expert in the field of environmentally conscious design and manufacturing, Allada earned his Ph.D. in industrial engineering in 1994 from the University of Cincinnati. He also holds a master of technology degree in management systems from Indian Institute of Technology and a bachelor of engineering degree in production engineering from the University of Bombay.
Allada joined the UMR engineering management faculty as an assistant professor in 1994. He was promoted to associate professor of engineering management and systems engineering in 2000, then named professor in 2006. Also in 2006, Allada was named associate chair of engineering management graduate studies.
Allada’s research activities have earned him numerous awards, including the 1998 Dell K. Allen Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award from the American society for Engineering Education, also in 1998. He was selected by Boeing to be a Welliver Faculty Fellow in 2001.
At UMR, Allada received the Faculty Excellence Award in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2006. He also received the UMR School of Engineering’s Innovative Teaching Award in 2005 and the UMR School of Extended Learning’s Outstanding Teaching Award of Excellence.