Dr. William W. Durgin joined California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) as
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs in 2006. His prior academic post had been
that of Associate Provost and Vice President for Research at Worcester Polytechnic
Institute. He made major contributions to undergraduate and graduate academic programs,
research programs, and adult education programs for all engineering, science, management,
and humanities and arts programs. Professor Durgin is a Fellow of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers and Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics. 

Dr. Durgin received the Sc.B. (1964) and Ph.D. (1970) degrees in mechanical engineering
from Brown University and the M.S. (1966) degree from the University of Rhode Island. He
is well known for research in the fluid mechanics area and has made substantial
contributions to engineering education through his work on project-based learning. He
received the ASME Curriculum Innovation Award, the ASME Service Award, and a NASA
Significant Achievement Award. He presently serves as chair of the Committee on Honors of
the ASME. 

Dr. Durgin led numerous accreditation efforts under ABET outcomes assessment and
methodology. Dr. Durgin served on the Engineering in Mass Collaborative, identifying and
implementing best practices in K-12 STEM education in support of the Massachusetts
Frameworks. He served on the Central Mass Biomedical Initiative board, the Manufacturing
Assistance Center board, the Massachusetts Extension Partnership board, and is a
proponent of economic development through strengthening of the high technology base. He
has succeeded in bringing engineering, science, and management resources together to form
the Bioengineering Institute that was successfully launched in 2004. He currently serves
on the P-16 Council in San Luis Obispo. 

Dr. Durgin has held many positions in professional societies and in organizations
supporting engineering education at the national and state levels. He is a member of
Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Tau Beta Pi. A professional engineer, Dr. Durgin is
registered in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Florida. He has served on boards, study
groups, and editorial boards for NASA, ASME and other organizations. He is the author of
more than seventy journal articles, edited and contributed to several books, and holds
two patents. Dr. Durgin has served as a member of the Executive Committee on the
Engineering Deans Council, and served as a member of the ASEE Public Policy
Committee.

Articles

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Ultrasonic Method for Aircraft Wake Vortex Detection (with Rebecca J. Rodenhiser and Hamid Johari), 44th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit: Reno, NV (2006)
This paper describes the experimental proof of concept study for an ultrasonic method of wake...
 

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Experimental Investigation of the Travel-time Variance of an Acoustic Wave Propagating Through The Grid-generated Turbulence (with Tatiana Andreeva), Journal of Waves in Random and Complex Media (2005)
An experimental technique for the investigation of the behaviour of acoustic wave propagation through a...
 

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Experimental Investigation of Statistical Moments of Travel Time in Grid-Generated Turbulence (with T. A. Andreeva and S. B. Meleshi), 42nd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit: Reno, NV (2004)
An experimental technique for investigation of the behavior of acoustic wave propagation through a turbulent...
 

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Ultrasound Technique for Prediction of Statistical Characteristics of Grid-Generated Turbulence (with T. A. Andreeva), AIAA Journal (2003)

Ultrasonic measurement techniques can be used to determine some characteristics of turbulent flows. In this...

 

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Ultrasonic flowmeters in determination of correlation functions of velocity and ultrasound wave fluctuations in grid-generated turbulence (with T. A. Andreeva), 9th AIAA/CEAS Aeroacoustics Conference and Exhibit: Hilton Head, S.C. (2003)
The paper is devoted to the experimental investigation of the statistical characteristics of the grid-generated...
 

Patents

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Ultrasonic Monitoring Method and System for Wake Turbulence Useful at Runways (with Hamid Johari), United States Patent Number: 6,062,076 (2000)
Two techniques for detecting vortices and their associated circulation are disclosed. The first is termed...
 

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Transient Flowmeter Calibration Facility (with Paul J. Lefebvre), United States Patent Number: 5,231,883 (1993)
An apparatus for defining the free surface of a moving column of a fluid in...