QUICK LINKS Today's News News releases ISU homepage NEWS RELEASE 09-06-02 Contacts: Jon Van Gerpen, Mechanical Engineering, (515) 294-5563 Dennis Smith, Engineering Communications, (515) 294-0267 Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917 VAN GERPEN NAMED INTERIM CHAIR AT IOWA STATE AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University's College of Engineering has appointed Jon Van Gerpen interim chair of the department of mechanical engineering. The appointment is for the 2002-2003 academic year. Van Gerpen replaces Warren DeVries, who is on sabbatical from Iowa State to take a position with the National Science Foundation. With enrollments of approximately 1,000 undergraduate and 125 graduate students, the mechanical engineering curriculum is the single largest academic program in the College of Engineering. Total enrollment in the mechanical engineering department is second only to the electrical and computer engineering department at Iowa State. Van Gerpen's research focuses on internal combustion engines, alternative fuels, and the formation of pollutants. In addition to his responsibilities as departmental chair, Van Gerpen is also directing a series of fall workshops dedicated to developing and promoting diesel fuel made from renewable agricultural resources. Iowa State is poised to become one of the leading institutions in the commercial development of biodiesel fuels, Van Gerpen said. Van Gerpen, a native of Cedar Falls, earned a B.A. in philosophy and a B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1978, and an M.S. in mechanical engineering in 1980 from Iowa State. He earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 1984 from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the same year he joined the Iowa State mechanical engineering faculty. -30- Ames, Iowa 50011, (515) 294-4111 Published by: University Relations, online@iastate.edu Copyright © 1995-2002, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.