Carl Laird is holder of the William and Ruth Neely Faculty Fellowship in Chemical Engineering.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 15, 2010 - Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering G. Kemble Bennett has appointed Carl Laird, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, holder of the William and Ruth Neely Faculty Fellowship in Chemical Engineering.

The appointment is for a three-year period, effective May 1.

Laird, who completed his undergraduate career at the University of Alberta, earned his Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University in 2006 and joined Texas A&M in 2007.

At Texas A&M, Laird's research focuses on large-scale nonlinear optimization, parameter estimation, and parallel computing. Particular applications include network problems, where he has worked on developing algorithms as part of an early warning contaminant detection system in municipal drinking water networks. In addition, Laird is involved in the modeling and optimization of infectious diseases, working to determine the fundamental driving forces affecting the spread of infectious disease in both time and space.