TCE Names Heads of Applied Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering
Chulho Yang has been named the inaugural head for the department within the Tickle College of Engineering which will house the applied engineering program, set to launch in the fall of 2025.
Yang arrives at the University of Tennessee after spending the last 17 years at Oklahoma State, where he was a mechanical engineering technology professor and interim head of the Division of Engineering Technology. He brings a strong background in administration, teaching, research, and service, built through extensive experience in academia and industry.
I am excited to join TCE and lead an outstanding department while collaborating with incredible colleagues at UT,”
Yang will be leading the launch of TCE’s newest applied engineering program, a four-year degree program that will prepare students to directly enter the workforce upon graduation with an emphasis on hands-on learning and applied experience. The department aims to meet industry demand and better serve the university’s land-grant mission.
“The future of this new department looks exceptionally promising, and its graduates will be in high demand across Tennessee and the nation. They will enter the workforce well-prepared with the skills and training necessary for success,” Yang said.
Yang’s research areas of interest include mechanical system analysis and design, noise and vibration, experimental sensitivity analysis, structural dynamics/health monitoring, design optimization, biomechanics, and protective device/structure.
Before joining OSU in 2008, Yang acquired 11 years of industrial experience with ArvinMeritor technical center, IBM Korea, and KIA Motors R&D Center. Much of his work focused on structural design and optimization, vehicle NVH test, sensitivity analysis, structural health monitoring, human body protection, and design methodologies. Yang has received multiple patents in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Korea.
Mohsen Asle Zaeem has been named the new head and Cook Eversole endowed professor of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Asle Zaeem joins UT after spending the last seven years at Colorado School of Mines, where he was a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, the Fryrear Endowed Chair for Innovation and Excellence, and the director of the postdoctoral affairs and professional development program.
“Materials discovery, design, and manufacturing are driving forces behind technological innovation and the competitiveness of U.S. industries. The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UT, with its exceptional faculty and outstanding research and teaching facilities, is poised to reach even greater heights in educating the next generation of highly skilled materials engineers and scientists and in establishing itself as a global leader in materials research,” Asle Zaeem said.
He began his academic career as an assistant and then associate professor of materials science and engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology. From 2022–24, he served as a program director for the Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) program at the National Science Foundation.
I am truly honored to join and lead one of the nation’s premier materials science and engineering departments,”
Asle Zaeem is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and an active member of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) and the Materials Research Society (MRS). He has published more than 135 peer-reviewed journal articles and delivered more than 55 invited and keynote lectures and presentations at different international scientific conferences.