Iowa State Names a Woman Chair of Mechanical Engineering, the University’s Largest Department

Caroline Hayes has been named chair of the department of mechanical engineering at Iowa State University. Her appointment is effective on October 1. She will also serve as professor of mechanical engineering and as the Lynn Gleason Professor of Interdisciplinary Engineering at Iowa State. Mechanical engineering is the largest major on the Iowa State campus. Currently, there are 1,342 undergraduate students and 180 graduate students. The department is home to 36 faculty members.

Professor Hayes has been on the mechanical engineering faculty at the University of Minnesota where she was director of graduate studies for human factors and ergonomics. She also served as the faculty liaison to the Minnesota state legislature.

Hayes is an expert on robotics and human-computer interaction and has been the principal investigator on more than 30 research grants. “My plan is simple: to provide Iowa’s diverse and vibrantly creative young people with the best quality mechanical engineering education possible,” Hayes said. “Channeling their natural curiosity towards discovery, invention and entrepreneurship is the most direct way to insure Iowa’s lead in the high-tech global economy.”

Dr. Hayes holds bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees, all from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.