Viljoen to lead UNL Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Calendar Icon May 29, 2013      Person Bust Icon By Carole Wilbeck | Engineering     RSS Feed  RSS Submit a Story

UNL College of Engineering Dean Tim Wei announced Hendrik “Henk” Viljoen (“vil-YOON”), Ph.D., will lead the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Engineering’s Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, beginning July 1. Viljoen succeeds Professor James Hendrix who served as interim department chair for the past year.

Viljoen is a Distinguished Professor with the college and has been with the CHME department since 1993. He holds Ph.D., M.S. and B.S. degrees from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and has taught chemical engineering computation and advanced chemical engineering analysis courses at UNL. He is a member of the editorial board of Computational Biology & Chemistry, and received a 2005 UNL Multidisciplinary Research Award, among other honors. Viljoen’s research is helping develop new technologies with the potential to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) in the developing world more quickly and accurately than current tests.

“After a nationwide search, it’s wonderful to find leadership talent within our college,” said Wei. “We appreciate the service of Jim Hendrix, who has contributed much to the college through the years, and we value Henk Viljoen’s commitment to the college and the university, as we look forward to working with him in further growth for the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department.”

UNL Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering includes 12 faculty and approximately 250 students pursuing B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Othmer Hall. For more information, see http://che.unl.edu.



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