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Spring 2018
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New

Welcome Addition

New professor first in North Texas sponsored by Governor’s University Research Initiative 

Engineering Research Building

Internationally renowned expert Robert Schafrik joins the UTA engineering faculty.

Dr. Robert Schafrik lost his battle with cancer on July 10, 2018. Our thoughts are with his family. Please visit the Dignity Memorial site for more information.

National Academy of Engineering Member Robert Schafrik, an internationally renowned expert in materials and manufacturing, has joined UTA to enhance the University's manufacturing and aerospace engineering programs.

Dr. Schafrik's recruitment received support from Gov. Greg Abbott's Governor's University Research Initiative (GURI) and the UT System's Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention, or STARs, program. GURI is a matching grant program that assists higher education institutions in recruiting distinguished researchers to the State of Texas.

Schafrik—the new Presidential Distinguished Professor of Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering—will have a secondary appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He holds 21 U.S. patents and was inducted into the GE Aviation Propulsion Hall of Fame in 2016. He also received the ASM International Eisenman Award for lifetime achievement in materials.

"The activities and energy at UTA attracted me to the University, and it's great that I can be a part of this dynamic research," Schafrik says. "I used to come here to the General Dynamics facility—now Lockheed Martin—when I was in the Air Force, and it is amazing to see the dramatic changes at UTA since then, especially the growth into an outstanding Carnegie R1 institution."

This new strategic hire comes as UTA continues to grow its research enterprise, granting more than 200 doctoral degrees for the fourth year in a row and generating over $94 million in research expenditures for 2017, up more than 11 percent from the previous year. This growth is particularly high in engineering, which—at $47 million—represents half of the University's total research portfolio, up 13 percent.

"Dr. Shafrik's unique experience will enhance our world-class team in composite materials, advanced manufacturing, and computational materials science," says President Vistasp Karbhari. "He also gives an important boost to UTA's innovation, commercialization activities, and startup initiatives through his extensive experience bringing inventions to the market."

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