The College of Engineering is undergoing changes, with the appointment of several new chairs in nearly half of the 10 departments.

One of the major changes is the selection of professor Craig Benson, who works at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Benson will head the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

"Craig has a very modern view of civil engineering's impact on society," said Matthew O'Donnell, the dean of the College of Engineering in a press release from uweek.org.

Benson, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Geo-Institute, has been involved with civil engineering projects that have an eye toward sustainability as an environmental goal.

"This is an exciting time in civil and environmental engineering, with issues in energy, environment and infrastructure having a prominent role in the context of sustainable society," Benson said.

Professors Leung Tsang and Alex Jen of the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, respectively, have stepped up as the new department chairs in their fields. Both of the men were previously acting chairs in their departments.

"The difference [from being an acting chair] is that a permanent chair needs to develop a long range of plans to really help insure the department," Jen said.

Jen hopes to mobilize his faculty to prepare and self-evaluate the curriculum thoroughly during the next three years of his term.

"Each department needs to have very strong preparation for accreditation. We really need to examine and evaluate ourselves," he said.

Among the other changes within his department, Jen will oversee an expansion to Benjamin Hall, as well as the hiring of five more faculty members, increasing his staff by 50 percent. Tsang, who was appointed as acting chair when the previous chair took a leave of absence and later resigned for medical reasons, admitted to being "excited" about his new position, which extends until 2011.

"One of the things I hope to do is move ahead and strengthen our research program, and hire new faculty who will help us do that," he said.

At the Department of Bioengineering, Yongmin Kim, who has served the department for eight years, has stepped down to focus on his research full time. Professor Paul Yager, the previous vice chair of the department, will fill his position as acting chair.

Yager received a $15.4 million grant with his team in 2005 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, when they developed a low-cost, portable device to analyze blood and diagnose diseases in the developing world.

Professor of chemical engineering Eric Stuve was appointed to a second term as chair of his department, a position to last for five years.

"The College of Engineering is entering a period of growth," O'Donnell said. "I am very excited about the strong leadership we have in place for these coming years."

[Reach reporter Arla Shephard at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]