Rate My Professor Joseph Slater

Joseph C. Slater, Ph.D., P.E., is the Dean of the College of Engineering and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tennessee Technological University, a position he has held since July 2019. Prior to joining Tennessee Tech, he spent 26 years at Wright State University in various capacities, including eight years in administration. His most recent role there was Chair of the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering from June 2016 to June 2019, preceded by Interim Associate Vice President for Career and Workforce Development from December 2013 to February 2015, Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and Director of the MS in Aerospace Systems Program.

Slater received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering in 1989, an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering in 1992 with thesis "Modeling of Non-proportional Frequency Dependent Viscoelastic Damping in Space Structures," and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1993 with dissertation "Nonlinear Modal Control," all from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His research interests include vibration of structures and machines, aeroelasticity, linear and nonlinear system identification, experimental modal analysis, nonlinear dynamics, cyber-physical systems, morphing wing control, and turbomachinery blade vibration. A Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, he is also a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Gamma Tau, and Phi Eta Sigma. He has contributed to the AIAA Structural Dynamics Technical Committee and Gossamer Spacecraft Program Committee and served as Associate Editor for professional journals. Notable publications include "An Optimization Based Technique for Determining Nonlinear Normal Modes" (2023), "Strain Gage Ramifications On Mistuning in As-manufactured Models and Experimental Testing" (2019), "Mistuned Response Prediction of Dual Flow-Path Integrally Bladed Rotors With Geometric Mistuning" (2015), and "Component-Mode Reduced-Order Models for Geometric Mistuning of Integrally Bladed Rotors" (2014).