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SAE Honors Darris White as Top Faculty Advisor of 2008

Daytona Beach, Fla., April 23, 2009 -- Darris L. White, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, was presented with the prestigious Faculty Advisor Award for 2008 from SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) at the SAE 2009 World Congress and Exhibition in Detroit, Mich., on April 21.

The award honors university faculty who have advised students in SAE design projects and have helped them develop as future engineers.

White has been faculty advisor of the SAE chapter at the university’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus since 2004. He advises student design teams for the Baja SAE, Formula SAE, Formula Hybrid, SAE Aero Design, and EcoCar Hybrid vehicle competitions. Under his guidance, Embry-Riddle’s SAE student chapter has grown to one of the largest in the world and has won eight design awards in student competitions.

White was recruited to Embry-Riddle to help develop a mechanical engineering degree program, which began in 2005 and received ABET accreditation in 2008. The degree program includes a concentration in high-performance vehicles, which often uses aspects of the SAE projects for class projects. White teaches courses in vehicle dynamics, control systems, senior design, and hybrid and hydrogen vehicle systems.

White is an expert in modeling, simulation, and control of dynamical systems. He works closely with the U.S. Department of Energy on wind energy research and with students and colleagues to promote clean energy systems.

White received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech and his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2003. He was active in the SAE chapters at both institutions beginning in 1995 and participated in research through the Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Lab at Virginia Tech.

After completing his MSME degree, White worked for Volvo Trucks North America for three years, where he earned five U.S. patents and was active in the 21st Century Truck Project. He then conducted research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on Wind Energy before completing his doctorate and joining the faculty at Embry-Riddle.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering, educating more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs. Doctoral programs in aviation and in engineering physics are pending approval by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) for the University to offer programs at the doctoral level. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 campus centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.