Dr. Frank Liou, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has been named the Michael and Joyce Bytnar Professor of Product Innovation and Creativity thanks to a gift from a 1968 mechanical engineering graduate of Missouri S&T. The appointment began on Sept. 1.

The professorship was established through a gift from Michael and Joyce Bytnar of St. Louis. Michael Bytnar is a 1968 mechanical engineering graduate of Missouri S&T and retired president of Nooter Corp. of St. Louis.

“The Bytnar Professorship is a unique opportunity to extend the department’s vision for design education and to further establish the Missouri S&T program as a national leader in mechanical engineering design education,” says Dr. Warren K. Wray, interim chancellor at Missouri S&T. “Dr. Liou has extensive design experience, and this position will allow him to further focus the department’s efforts.”

Liou will implement the department’s design philosophy throughout the mechanical engineering curriculum and the design content courses, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses and evaluating the department’s design education to bring national recognition to the campus. He will also work closely with Dr. Ashok Midha, director of the Bytnar Product Innovation and Creativity Center.

Liou, who also serves as director of the Interdisciplinary Manufacturing Engineering Program. He earned a Ph.D. degree from the University of Minnesota, a master of science degree from North Carolina State University at Raleigh, and bachelor of science, N.A. and M.E. degree from National Cheng-Kung University in Taiwan. He came to Missouri S&T in 1987 as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

Liou was named Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2008 and has received numerous other professional awards.

Liou is associate editor of Mechanism and Machine Theory, the journal of the International Federation for the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms. He is a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society for Engineering Education. He is the author of a book on rapid prototyping as well as numerous other publications.