William Lord, distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been elected associate director for Iowa State’s Institute for Physical Research and Technology.

Director of IPRT Joel Snow said Lord’s experience as the associate dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering and his experience as assistant chair and coordinator of Graduate Studies in the electrical and computer engineering department made him an excellent candidate.

“He has absolutely outstanding characteristics,” Snow said. “I am extremely pleased that he has joined our team.”

In 1964, Lord received his Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. Since then, he has held positions at institutions such as the University of Tennessee, Clarkson College of Technology, Colorado State University and the University College Cardiff in the United Kingdom.

Lord began working under his new title of IPRT associate director in March. As associate director, his responsibilities include the oversight of all IPRT centers (except for the Ames Lab), budget and personnel concerns, program planning and center-specific initiatives.

Aside from all his administrative duties, Lord’s main research interest is numerical modeling of the interactions of energy and materials, especially as they relate to the development of nondestructive evaluation practices.

With facilities that cover 11 research centers and an annual budget of $60 million, IPRT is responsible for a major portion of advanced research on campus. The institute provides work-study for many undergraduates and is a place many graduate students work on thesis statements for their Ph.D.s. IPRT’s main objective is to do high quality research that is multidisciplinary, with an emphasis on technology transfer.

With his new position, Lord said he wants to make programs in which undergraduates can play an even bigger part.

“I want to make the role of the IPRT centers much bigger by providing hands-on activities for undergraduate students,” Lord said. “I want integrative research in undergraduate education.”

Snow emphasized that workers at the institute must be not only skilled at technical research, but also have innovative minds that are willing to explore new avenues.

“The work in our labs involves invention and innovation as well as research,” Snow said. “We hope our research will end up being useful to Iowa laboratories and other laboratories in the country.”