Teaching happily ever…

"Being a professor is the best job in the world and being married to a professor who also thinks it’s the best job in the world takes it out of this world,” Prof Farrokh Mistree was quoted in The Norman Transcript, the campus newsletter of the University of Oklahoma (OU) where the duo have taken on challenging appointments, beginning August 1, 2009. Mistree has been named the L. A. Comp Chair and Director of the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering while his wife, Prof Janet Allen has been named the John and Mary Moore Chair and Professor in the School of Industrial Engineering at the same University. The Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA) is "honored to have such illustrious and esteemed academia in our community. I wish them every success in their new positions,” noted a communiqué from FEZANA president Bomi Patel.

Attracted to the College of Enginee-ring’s vision, Mistree noted, "It’s not continuing in the same old way of doing the same old stuff but setting in another direction to do new stuff… At this time, my goal is to work with people to articulate a collective vision, develop a plan of action to attain that vision and then be the cheer leader to pursue strategies for life-changing learning experiences and world-changing discovery/innovation experiences.”

Both of them were until recently faculty members in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Extending his professional commitments to related areas, Mistree served as secretary-treasurer of the Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Society for a record 13 years. Believing that "happy people are always successful, successful people are not necessarily happy,” Mistree’s bio data refers to his "passion to have fun… Fun in defining the emerging discipline of Strategic Engineering… Fun in providing an opportunity for highly motivated and talented people to learn how to define and achieve their dreams.” He even makes time to write stories for children.

With more than 30 years of experience in academia, Mistree’s teaching assignments have been at the University of New South Wales in Sydney as also the University of Houston. At the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering he was associate chairman from 2005-2008, notes his life profile. A graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, Mistree subsequently did his MS in engineering from the University of California at Berkeley followed by his doctorate. With design experience spanning mechanical, aeronautical, structural and industrial engineering, Mistree has taught courses in engineering design, naval architecture, solid mechanics, operations research, computer science and professional development. He has co-authored two textbooks, one monograph and more than 325 technical publications, and been a research guide to 26 PhD, 49 MS and 19 BS students. His research efforts have earned him the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Design Automation Award and Distinguished Service Award, and his teaching initiatives the Jack M. Zeigler Woodruff School Outstanding Educator Award.

Allen is known for her contributions to the simulation-based design of complex engineering systems. She said she looks forward to working with her colleagues to develop an interdisciplinary research thrust. Having earned her bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her doctoral degree in biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley, she has a strong interdisciplinary background and experience that she looks forward to putting to good use to achieve education goals. A fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, she has co-authored one monograph and more than 225 technical publications.