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George Dieter, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering, and dean of the A. James Clark School of Engineering from 1977–94, died Saturday at the age of 92.
Under his leadership, the Clark School’s excellence, enrollment and reputation grew dramatically. He encouraged students to take part in national engineering competitions, launched the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute and started the Board of Visitors, where he invited distinguished alumni to advise the school’s leadership and to help keep classes and programming on the leading edge.
“Dr. Dieter is an institution. He is a foundation. He is a legend,” said UMD President Darryll J. Pines.
Dieter wrote two seminal books: “Mechanical Metallurgy,” now in its third edition and one of the standard texts used at the Clark School, and “Engineering Design” (coauthored with Linda C. Schmidt), now in its sixth edition. In 1993, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for “contributions to engineering education in the areas of materials design and processing.”
Dieter and his late wife, Nancy, established a merit-based scholarship for a mechanical engineering student involved in the Women in Engineering Program. He also established a capstone design fund and supported a professorship named in his honor.
The materials teaching lab in the Kim Engineering Building was recently named the George E. Dieter, Jr. Materials Instructional Laboratory to remember his legacy and inspire others to create their own.
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