College of Engineering Announces New Associate Dean for Research

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Heather Nachtmann

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The College of Engineering has selected Heather Nachtmann, professor of industrial engineering, as its new associate dean for research. She will coordinate the research and graduate education activities in the college. Nachtmann is tasked with promoting and advancing scholarship, facilitating research collaboration both within the college and with other colleges and universities, and carrying out the research vision for the College of Engineering.

“I am very pleased to announce Dr. Nachtmann’s appointment to this position,” said John English, dean of the College of Engineering. “The college has always had a strong research program, but now we are putting even more focus on exploration and innovation. In this new role, Dr. Nachtmann will carry forward the work that was begun by our Research Task Force, and I am confident that her work will benefit both our faculty and our students, in addition to increasing the reputation of engineering at the University of Arkansas.”

Nachtmann holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. She joined the University of Arkansas faculty in 2000. Her research focuses on transportation systems, logistics modeling and economic decision analysis. She currently serves as the director of the Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center and the Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center. She also held a leadership position in the Center for Innovation in Healthcare Logistics.

Nachtmann is a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Management. She has authored and co-authored numerous publications and has received best paper awards from The Engineering Economist and Engineering Management Journal.

“I am excited to work with Dean English and our college faculty as we pursue our goal of becoming a top 50 public graduate engineering school,” said Nachtmann. “Our research vision is built on the college’s existing strengths in electronics, energy, healthcare systems engineering, nanomaterials science and engineering, and transportation and logistics. We’re also developing emerging research areas including aerospace, cybersecurity and data analytics.”