Wu named to endowed professorship

Nianqiang “Nick” Wu, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at West Virginia University , has been named the George B. Berry Chair of Engineering, effective January 1, 2019.

Established by the George B. and Carolyn A. Berry Educational Trust, the endowment provides funds to develop cross-disciplinary engineering programs with a focus on environmental issues. George Berry graduated from WVU in 1958 with a degree in chemical engineering. He went on to a very successful career, serving as president of Oxy Metal Industries, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, and OMI International Corporation. He was chairman and chief executive office of Omicron Capital Corporation until his passing in 1996.

Wu, a materials scientist, is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking contributions to the fundamental understanding of charge transfer and energy transfer in electrochemical and photoelectric materials and devices.

“I am very grateful for the support from the George B. Berry Endowment,” said Wu. “This will facilitate discovery and innovation, help retain the sustainability of our research program and create opportunities for collaboration with scholars.”

A Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, Wu is a recipient of the Benedum Distinguished Scholar Award and the Alice Hamilton Award for Excellence in Occupational Safety and Health, as well as the Statler College’s Outstanding Researcher Award. He served as chair of the Sensor Division in the Electrochemical Society and serves as an editorial advisory board member in several international journals including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage.

He received his Ph.D. degree in materials science and engineering from Zhejiang University, China, in 1997. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at University of Pittsburgh from 1999 to 2001 and later directed the Keck Surface Science Center at Northwestern University from 2001-2005. He joined WVU as an assistant professor in 2005 and was promoted to associate professor and professor in 2010 and 2014, respectively. He has published one book, more than 175 journal papers and his publications were cited nearly 3,000 times in 2018, achieving a total citation of about 17,000 throughout his career.

---