Byron Erath joins RIT as mechanical engineering department head

Byron Erath knows how to connect fluid mechanics and vocal cords.

The intriguing combination of engineering principles and the human body has resulted in new information about how to diagnose ailments that disrupt speech. He’ll bring this bio-inspired research to RIT this fall as the leader of RIT’s Mechanical Engineering Department.

Erath was named department head of one of the Kate Gleason College of Engineering’s largest departments, assuming the role in early August. Prior to this, he was a professor at Clarkson University for 12 years in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace.

With a strong research background in the areas of fluid mechanics, aerosol transmissions, and development of rehabilitative and assistive devices, Erath has explored how voiced speech is produced by complex fluid-structure-acoustic interactions within the larynx. His discoveries in this area have helped inform treatments and interventions and led to one of his goals for his new position—to inspire engineering students to contribute their skills to fields such as healthcare.

“There are many ways that engineers can make a difference in areas such as healthcare, and bringing together people from engineering, business, and the sciences is a way to improve people’s health—and a way to help our students understand how to work well with all those involved,” said Erath, who will join an engineering college that takes a human centered design approach, balancing theory and engineering principles with client needs, to develop ideas for new products and services.

With a career that successfully mixed engineering, medicine and business, Erath said he’d like to further instill these aspects into the curriculum and seek more ways to further enhance the hands-on experiences in both the undergraduate and graduate engineering programs.

Erath has collaborated with engineers and biologists on research and has more than 50 journal publications. Currently he is the associate editor of the ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering. As a contributing writer for The Conversation, his articles have been published in several languages and had placements in multiple national publications including PBS and Flipboard, as well as social media outlets. He received his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Purdue University. He served as a post-doctoral scientist at George Washington University.

Looking forward to working with the mechanical engineering faculty, Erath succeeds Risa Robison who held this position since 2014. Robinson re-joins the mechanical engineering faculty and will serve as program director of the Mechanical/Industrial Engineering doctoral program, one of four based in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering. The mechanical engineering professor also directs the Respiratory Technologies Lab, which has been a significant resource about e-cigarette emissions for the National Institutes for Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the American Cancer Society.