Malone, Goldstein receive distinguished professorships

By Elizabeth Luciano, News Office staff

wo leaders in the College of Engineering were honored by President William M. Bulger at the Feb. 12 meeting of the Board of Trustees at UMass Boston.

      Joseph I. Goldstein, dean of the College of Engineering, was named a Distinguished Professor, and Michael Malone, head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, was named the Ronnie and Eugene Isenberg Distinguished Professor of Engineering.

      The appointments were made following approval by the Board of Trustees. The designations recognize them for outstanding academic distinction. They were recommended for the honor by Chancellor John V. Lombardi and interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost Charlena Seymour.

      Goldstein, an engineer who specializes in metallurgy and electron microscopy, has been dean of the College of Engineering since 1993, coming to UMass after a distinguished 25-year career at Lehigh University. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and is the author or editor of 10 books. He continues to conduct NASA-supported research, along with his role as dean. Specifically, he studies the various phases found in meteorites.

     These metals can tell researchers a great deal about how the meteorite cooled in its parent asteroid over long periods of time. Goldstein focuses on the chemistry and structure of meteorites and lunar rocks, and was part of the team involved in the analysis of samples returned by the Apollo missions since Apollo 11. Gold-stein had an asteroid named for him in 2000.

     Goldstein is known as being an innovator in education, and has developed a series of textbooks in scanning electron microscopy widely used in instructional courses and by researchers in government and industrial laboratories. He and professor James Kurose of the Computer Science Department, are credited with the development of the Commonwealth Information Technology Initiative, which has grown to include 29 colleges and universities.

     Malone was named the Ronnie and Eugene Isenberg Distinguished Professor of Engineering. The purpose of this professorship is to enhance teaching and research between the fields of engineering and business, and is awarded to a faculty member "who has demonstrated exceptional teaching and research skills and has achieved distinction in a specific area of engineering." Malone is a nationally-known researcher whose work currently focuses on the computer-aided design and synthesis of separation systems used in the chemical and petrochemical industries. He is the author of 98 peer-reviewed publications, and co-author of two books.

     Malone joined the faculty in 1980 and became department head in 1997. He has received a slate of honors, including a General Electric Outstanding Teaching Award, a Distinguished Teaching Award, and Outstanding Senior Faculty Award from the College of Engineering, and the Computer and Systems Technology Division Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.