Introducing Our New Mechanical Engineering Department Head

Dr. Edward White, a passionate proponent of creating and sustaining environments where collaboration can thrive, has been named the head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas, effective Sept. 1.

White was most recently an associate department head and professor of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station. During his tenure at Texas A&M, White secured research funding from a variety of public and private sector research sponsors, as well as serving in multiple roles for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and achieving more than 2,500 paper citations in the fields of aerodynamics, aerodynamic design and experimentation. During his time there, he also directed a large-scale wind tunnel testing facility that executed testing projects for government and industrial clients.

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“Ed is a great blend of the academic and administrative skillsets. He is someone who understands breakthroughs in research can only come from an environment designed to foster collaboration, learning and understanding. He’s demonstrated this again and again through his own research, which focuses on wind tunnel experiments on boundary layer stability, transition and related areas. I believe Ed will be a superb listener, fair executive and advocate for all students, staff and faculty in his department.”

— Dr. Stephanie G. Adams
Jonsson School Dean
and Lars Magnus Ericsson Chair

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White was drawn to the Jonsson School and its mechanical engineering department by the institution’s dynamic regional presence, as well as its growing national reputation. The Department of Mechanical Engineering is one of the country’s most well-regarded, counting more than 40 faculty members among its ranks, who have earned more than nine National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER awards for scientists and engineers, and in the 2022-23 academic year, granted more than 250 bachelor’s degrees, more than 50 master’s degrees and more than 15 doctoral degrees.

“The Department of Mechanical Engineering here is growing very rapidly, and there’s a lot of potential to achieve great things,” White said. “It’s amazing how quickly the Jonsson School and the Department of Mechanical Engineering have achieved such quality and reached this size in only about 15 years. I am excited to help take the next steps forward in quality and reputation and about what we’re able to deliver to students and our research and community partners.

“Creating an environment where each individual can do their best work is my job.” 

In 2000, White joined Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, as an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, where he designed and constructed two wind tunnels to study boundary-layer transition and aircraft icing drop runback, with funding from the U.S. Air Force, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the NSF. In 2007, he moved to Texas A&M University to serve as an associate professor in 2007 where he helped oversee the reconstruction, commissioning and operation of the Klebanoff-Saric Wind Tunnel, and directed the Oran W. Nicks Low Speed Wind Tunnel. He was awarded the rank of AIAA Associate Fellow based on his research and served on the AIAA Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee, among other accomplishments.

“My research tries to understand, and then predict, and ultimately reduce the amount of drag on an aircraft configuration,” White said. “In other words, how can we produce the same amount of lift that we need to carry an airplane but do it more efficiently?”

White earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and his master’s in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University. His PhD in aerospace engineering is from Arizona State University.