Wayne T. Davis, current associate dean for research and technology in the College of Engineering, will serve as interim dean beginning May 10 to fill the absence to be left by current Dean Way Kuo, according to a UT press release.

Kuo accepted the position of president of the City University of Hong Kong in February. During Kuo's tenure, incoming students had all-time high ACT scores, research expenditures rose and the nuclear engineering program recently was ranked 11^th in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

Davis has been teaching at UT since March 1974, and in 2003 received the university's highest faculty honor, the Macebearer, for his longstanding commitment to the university.

His areas of concentration are air quality management and air pollution control, and he is chairman of the Knox County Air Pollution Control Board. He is a member of numerous professional and honor societies, such as the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Society of Engineering Educators.

A search committee, chaired by Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement Brad Fenwick and professor and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering Bamin Khomami, has been formed to seek a new dean.