Mark Balas

Professor Mark Balas Appointed J.G. Nicholson Professor of Electrical Engineering

July 14. 2009 -Professor and Head of the University of Wyoming Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Mark Balas was appointed as the George J.G. Nicholson Professor of Electrical Engineering by Rob Ettema, dean of UW’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. The appointment is effective July 1 and has a renewable three-year term.

As part of his commitment to the spirit of the Nicholson professorship, Balas will lead the development of the Wyoming Electric Motor Training and Testing Laboratory, a comprehensive laboratory to be established with the renovation of the existing “Nick” Nicholson Power Laboratory in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. According to Dean Ettema, “the renovated lab is viewed as a critical part of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department’s infrastructure. It will be the only facility available to demonstrate and test electric motors and generators, energy conversion systems, and all other electric-power systems relating to energy efficiency.”

The head of the UW Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Balas joined the UW faculty in 2004. He previously was a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He also served as a senior research scientist with the Air Force Research Laboratory at New Mexico's Kirtland Air Force Base. He is a fellow of both the AIAA and the IEEE.

Balas received a B.S. (1965) in electrical engineering from the University of Akron, an M.S. (1970) in mathematics from the University of Maryland and both an M.S. in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics (1974) from the University of Denver. He is a past recipient of the Tau Beta Pi teaching excellence award, and has been very active promoting diversity in engineering.