AMES, Iowa -- Krishna Rajan, a Stanley Chair of Interdisciplinary Engineering and a professor of materials science and engineering at Iowa State University, has been named the new director of Iowa State's Institute for Combinatorial Discovery (ICD).
The institute was established in March 2003 as one of six Presidential Academic Initiatives and focuses on the development and application of parallel computing techniques for the rapid discovery of new materials.
"We are fortunate to have someone with Dr. Rajan's breadth of research experience leading this Institute," said John Brighton, Iowa State's vice president for research and economic development. "He is a world leader in this area of materials research and will provide excellent leadership in the advancement of the ICD. He also will work closely with the leadership team at ISU in the development of the new CyberInnovation Institute."
Rajan also directs the National Science Foundation International Materials Institute: Combinatorial Sciences and Materials Informatics Collaboratory. This is an international research and education consortium promoting the use of powerful computing techniques for materials discovery and design.
"The establishment of the ICD as one of the Presidential Academic Initiatives has over the last five years proven to be a strategic investment for the university and has helped to establish ISU as a leader in this emerging field," Rajan said. "I look forward to working with my colleagues to help develop the next phase of growth in the ICD, especially in building the linkages to high performance computing and cyberdiscovery initiatives on campus."
Rajan succeeds Balaji Narasimhan who was recently appointed associate dean for research and economic development in Iowa State's College of Engineering.
