John E. Caruthers has named William H. Hofmeister as the new director of the Center for Laser Applications (CLA) at The University of Tennessee Space Institute.

Hofmeister will be accountable for using CLA resources for growing and expanding research programs consistent with UT President John Petersen’s planned focus areas for the Institute, particularly including the use of lasers in materials research, Caruthers said.

“I sincerely thank Jim Lewis for his willingness to serve as the interim CLA director as we transitioned to a new CLA management structure,” added Caruthers, associate vice president and chief operating officer.

A long-time research professor at Vanderbilt University, Hofmeister joined the Space Institute in August as a full-time research professor. An expert in laser materials processing and materials science, Hofmeister says, “We plan to make UTSI a major player in the area of Laser process control.”

Hofmeister, who also has experience with nanotechnology, says UTSI’s collaborations with Oak Ridge Center for Nanomaterials Science, UT’s Materials Science Department and two of Vanderbilt’s research facilities will help keep the Institute in touch with the latest in nanomaterials.

James W.L. (Jim) Lewis, of Tullahoma, a long-time UTSI professor of physics and a member of UTSI’s Applied Physics Research Group (APRG), helped establish the laser center as a “state of the art laboratory” more than 20 years ago.