The College of Engineering and Computing announces the appointments of Melissa Moss and Mark Uline as the new chair for the Department of Chemical Engineering and director for the Biomedical Engineering Program, respectively.
Moss previously worked as the program director for biomedical engineering at the CEC since 2014 and has been serving as the interim chair of the Chemical Engineering Department since 2019. She came to South Carolina in 2004 after working as a postdoctoral associate with the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine.
“Dr. Moss did a remarkable job during her one plus year of interim leadership, which coincided with COVID-19,” says Hossein Haj-Hariri, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing. “She also engaged the department in meaningful conversations about possible paths forward. As such, we are fortunate that Dr. Moss agreed to continue in the position of chair on a permanent basis.”
Becoming the first woman to hold the chair position, Moss says she is optimistic for the future of the department. Her goals include raising the department’s rankings, enriching culture for retention and hiring and connecting with external stakeholders.
“The UofSC Chemical Engineering Department has a strong history of success enabled by many great department chairs,” says Moss. “These predecessors have set a high bar for achievement, but I am very excited about the opportunity to lead the department and honored that my colleagues have selected me for this important task. I look forward to working with faculty, staff and student leadership to improve upon the solid foundation built by prior chairs, including John Weidner, Mike Matthews, Michael Amiridis and Ralph White.”
Taking over for Moss as the Biomedical Engineering Program director, Uline previously served as the undergraduate director for program since 2014. He came to South Carolina in 2011 after working as a postdoctoral associate at Northwestern University.
“Dr. Uline addressed some major curricular and advising issues in Biomedical Engineering, and he has positioned the program on a much better path with regards to the retention and success of its students,” said Haj-Hariri. “We were delighted that he too accepted to continue on a permanent basis.”
Uline hopes to build on the success of the program under Moss. He says he plans to work to strengthen external relations and the rankings of the program while coordinating with undergraduate and graduate directors Silke Henrich and Tarek Shazly, respectively.
“We have a truly phenomenal faculty and staff in the biomedical engineering program,” says Uline. “Working with them over the last decade has been an absolute pleasure, and I learned a tremendous amount from them. Together, we can continue to build this interdisciplinary program to be a national trend-setter in preparing students for their careers.”