OSU Grad to Become Nuclear Engineering Department Head at University of Tennessee, Knoxville

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.–Dr. J. Wesley Hines has been appointed as head of the University of Tennessee (UT)-Knoxville's Department of Nuclear Engineering (NE). His appointment will begin on or before January 1, 2012, once the university has concluded its search for a permanent vice chancellor for research. Hines was named the Interim Vice Chancellor for Research in 2010. He previously served as the Interim Associate Dean for Research and Technology for the UT College of Engineering (COE) from 2008 to 2009.

Hines received a PhD in nuclear engineering from The Ohio State University in 1994; an MBA degree from The Ohio State University in 1992; and his BS in electrical engineering from Ohio University, Athens, in 1985. Hines also attended the Naval Nuclear Power School in Orlando, Florida, in 1986 and worked as a U.S. Naval Officer on Naval nuclear submarines from 1987-1990. He started his career at UT in the NE department in 1995 as a research assistant professor. In 2005, Hines was promoted to professor in the nuclear engineering department. 

Hines has received numerous recognitions from both the university and the COE, including the Chancellor’s Research Award in 2007; College of Engineering Research Fellow Award in 2006; the Moses E. and Mayme Brooks Distinguished Professor Award in 2005; the COE Teaching Fellow Award in 2005; and the Allen & Hoshall Engineering Faculty Award in 2002.

In 2006, Hines received The Ohio State University Distinguished Alumni Award from the OSU College of Engineering Nuclear Engineering Program.

Hines’ research areas include applied artificial intelligence, surveillance and diagnostics, instrumentation and control, modeling and simulation and maintenance and reliability engineering. He currently serves as the director of the college’s Reliability and Maintainability Engineering (RME) Program, which offers an interdepartmental M.S. degree in reliability and maintainability engineering through a joint relationship between the engineering college and the Department of Statistics, Operations and Management Science.

Hines succeeds Dr. H.L. (Lee) Dodds, who is retiring from the university after a 35-year academic career that includes 14 years as NE department head. The NE department is currently ranked as number 9 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report and has experienced dramatic increases in enrollment due to revised interest in the nuclear engineering industry.

For more information, contact Kim Cowart, Engineering Communications, at (865) 974-0686/kcowart@utk.edu or Whitney Holmes, UT Office of Media Relations, at (865) 974-5460/wholmes7@utk.edu.