Former IACMI Board Chair, Dr. Taylor Eighmy, accepted the position as President of the University of Texas at San Antonio starting in Fall 2017. Eighmy served as the Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement and as a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for five years, and served as chair of the IACMI Board of Directors since IACMI’s founding in 2015.
Eighmy was instrumental in the formation of IACMI, the fifth Manufacturing USA Institute, understanding how to connect industry, government, and university opportunities. He also was instrumental in hiring the IACMI Chief Technology Officer, Uday Vaidya, a UT/ORNL Governor’s Chair in Advanced Composites Manufacturing and professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
As Chair of the IACMI Board of Directors, Eighmy initiated many IACMI projects, including a recent enterprise project with Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tenn. Eighmy reflected on the impact of the project noting, “We consider this IACMI-led initiative one of our highest achievements set to positively impact future composite innovation goals.” Eighmy has set IACMI in a position to grow the number and scope of research projects and to continue to be a leader in innovation of the composites industry.
The IACMI team wishes Eighmy the best in his new role at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and looks forward to growing the community of those positively impacted by Eighmy’s knowledgeable leadership.