Rudolph G. Buchheit became the Dean of the University of Kentucky College of Engineering July 1, 2018.
Prior to coming to UK, Dr. Buchheit was the associate dean for academic affairs and administration of the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University, an academic unit comprising more than 350 faculty members, 400 staff members, 8,500 undergraduate students and 2,200 graduate students. During his tenure, Dean Buchheit supervised the recruitment of a three-year faculty cohort that was 45 percent women and diverse men, and he oversaw an operating budget of $240 million, including $130 million in research expenditures. Dean Buchheit is passionate about student and faculty success and looks forward to building upon the College of Engineering’s considerable momentum.
Dean Buchheit earned his bachelor's degree in engineering science at Loyola University-Maryland. He also has a master's degree and doctoral degree in materials science from the University of Virginia. Dean Buchheit served as department chair of Materials Science and Engineering at Ohio State from October 2006-August 2014.
Before joining Ohio State, Dean Buchheit was a senior member of the technical staff in the Materials and Process Sciences Directorate at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.
Dean Buchheit's research is in the area of corrosion science and engineering with emphasis on the chemistry and electrochemistry of corrosion, corrosion modeling and corrosion prediction; mostly related to aluminum alloys and products. He has also worked in the area of surface engineering, including surface modification and corrosion resistant coatings.
Dean Buchheit is a fellow of NACE International. He is also a fellow of the Electrochemical Society. He has served on the editorial board for Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology. He has served as an ABET program evaluator for materials-oriented programs and is a past chair of the University Materials Council.
Buchheit is the recipient of the H.H. Uhlig Educator’s Award from NACE and the Morris Cohen Award from the Corrosion Division of the Electrochemical Society. He is also the recipient of the Stanley E. Harrison Faculty Award from the College of Engineering at Ohio State and is a two-time recipient of the Charles Ellison MacQuigg Award for outstanding teaching.