COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Dr. Dennis L. O’Neal, holder of the Holdredge/Paul Professorship in Engineering Education, has been named head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. O’Neal has served as interim head of the department since May 2003. He is also associate director of the Energy Systems Laboratory in the Texas Engineering Experiment Station and will head the TEES Mechanical Engineering Division. "Dr. O’Neal has done an outstanding job serving as interim department head," said Dr. G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor and dean of engineering. "Following an exhaustive search, Dr. O’Neal was clearly the best candidate to lead the Mechanical Engineering program and I look forward to his continued contributions to the department, college and entire university in the future." O’Neal came to Texas A&M in 1983 as an assistant professor. His research focuses on air conditioning, refrigeration, heat transfer, fans, ventilation systems and energy forecasting. A prolific author, O’Neal wrote on refrigeration for The Mechanical Engineers’ Handbook and has written more than 150 technical and popular articles. He has been a principal or co-principal investigator on projects totaling more than $16 million. O’Neal is previous holder of the E.D. Brockett Professorship and has received the Texas A&M Association of Former Students Distinguished Teaching Award in the Dwight Look College of Engineering. He was among the first named a Look College Faculty Fellow in 1996, and has earned the Texas A&M mechanical engineering department’s outstanding undergraduate teaching award. A Fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, O’Neal has held various ASHRAE leadership positions and received the society’s Distinguished Service Award. O’Neal also is active in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. O’Neal holds a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M. He earned a master’s degree from Oklahoma State University and his Ph.D. from Purdue University, both in mechanical engineering.
