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Five Candidates for UTSI Leader Selected for February Interviews

Five candidates have been selected to be interviewed this month to succeed John E. Caruthers as leader of The University of Tennessee Space Institute. Caruthers is retiring June 30.

Interviews are scheduled to begin Feb. 16 and continue through February at UT Knoxville and at UTSI to fill the position of associate vice president of UT and chief operating officer of the Space Institute.

Candidates are Donald L. Birx, interim vice provost/president for research and president of the Physical Science Institute, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, N.M.; Donald Daniel, a principal research engineer with the Georgia Tech Research Institute and former chief scientist of the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC);

Amit Goyal, Distinguished Scientist and Battelle Distinguished Inventor, Oak Ridge National University; William Hofmeister, research professor of materials science and engineering and director of UTSI’s Center for Laser Applications, and Gerald Pitalo, principal consultant, Pitalo Aerospace Engineering, Biloxi, Miss.

Jack Britt, UT executive vice president, and Way Kuo, UT engineering dean, are co-chairs of the search committee. Other members are Gary Flandro, Joel W. Muehlhauser, Patricia Burks-Jelks, and Mark Olles, all with UTSI; Joe Lester, Tullahoma, David Jerome, AEDC; Claudia Rawn and Craig Blue, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.