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Brigham Young University has promoted one of its prominent research scientists to be its top academic administrator.
Brent Webb, who has been on the BYU engineering faculty for 25 years, next month will succeed John Tanner, who is leaving his post as vice president for academics to be an LDS Church mission president.
"Brent is uniformly respected as a scholar, teacher and administrator," BYU President Cecil Samuelson said. "He is a very distinguished scholar, with a remarkable publication record. Additionally, Brent has earned high marks for his excellent teaching. Brent would be welcomed warmly at any fine university in this position."
Webb has served the university in a variety of administrative capacities, currently as associate academic vice president of research and graduate studies.
A professor of mechanical engineering, Webb's international reputation stems from his development of models for predicting spectral radiation heat transfer in high-temperature gases. The BYU graduate holds a doctoral degree from Purdue University.
Brian Maffly