Juan Balda, University Professor of electrical engineering, has been named department head for the next five years. Balda served as interim department head from September 2009 to August 2012, and recently has been serving as department head since July 2013. Balda holds the Twenty-First Century Leadership Chair in Engineering.

"I am so pleased that Dr. Balda has agreed to take on this position," said John English, dean of the College of Engineering, "He has provided excellent leadership in electrical engineering over the past few years, and I have full confidence that he will lead the department to the next level." 

Balda received a bachelor's degree from the Universidad Nacional del Sur in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, in 1979. He then worked for two and one-half years at Hidronor S.A., an electric utility in the Southwestern part of Argentina. He received a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa in 1986. He was then employed as a researcher and a part-time lecturer at the University of Natal. He then spent two years as a visiting assistant professor at Clemson University, South Carolina, before coming to the University of Arkansas in 1989.

Balda's main research interests are power electronics, electric power distribution systems, motor drives and electric power quality. Balda focuses on renewable energy sources and ways to store these and integrate them into the power grid.

He is a senior member of the Institute of Electronical and Electronics Engineers, a member of the Power Electronics and Industry Applications Societies, and a member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu. He is a faculty advisor to the IEEE Power Electronics Society branch.