ANN ARBOR—The Regents of the University of Michigan recently appointed Dennis Assanis to the Jon R. and Beverly S. Holt Professorship in Engineering.

Assanis, a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is an expert in combustion and heat transfer, with an emphasis on internal combustion engine applications. He is also an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; the director of the Automotive Engineering program, an interdisciplinary graduate degree program residing in the U-M College of Engineering; the director of the Walter E. Lay Automotive Laboratory; the director of the Automotive Research Center; and the U-M associate director of the General Motors Satellite Research Laboratory.

Assanis earned a B.Sc. degree in marine engineering from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and master’s degrees in management, mechanical engineering, and naval architecture and marine engineering, and a Ph.D. in power and propulsion from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the faculty at Michigan in 1994.

The Holt Professorship was established in 1999 by Jon Holt (BSE IE ’68) and his wife, Beverly (BA LSA ’68), to recognize professors from Mechanical Engineering or Industrial and Operations Engineering who have made an outstanding commitment to undergraduate education. Jon Holt is president and chief executive officer of Super Radiator Coils, Ltd., of Chaska, Minn.

RegentsDepartment of Mechanical EngineeringIndustrial and Operations Engineering