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Whyte named new Course 22 department head

Whyte named new Course 22 department head

Professor Dennis G. Whyte was named the new head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering yesterday, effective immediately. This announcement comes after Professor Richard Lester, the former department head, was named associate provost for international activities in May.

Whyte was appointed Director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center late last year, a position he will continue to hold. Whyte joined the MIT faculty in 2006 after receiving a PhD from the University of Quebec in 1993 and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan in 1986. In addition to authoring over 300 publications, Whyte is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a two-time winner of the Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching.

In an email to the nuclear engineering department, Dean of Engineering Ian A. Waitz praised Whyte’s “significant advances on surface and material measurement techniques of fusion and reactive power plant designs for pilot plants.”

“Professor Whyte is an inspiring educator and a dedicated, thoughtful leader, and he has a wide base of collaborators both within and beyond the Institute,” Waitz wrote. “He is well poised to lead this distinguished department into the future.”

—Kath Xu