Board of directors

Ms. Shannon Strank joined the University of Texas at Austin Center for Electromechanics (UT-CEM) in 2006 after spending six years as a support engineer in private industry. While she enjoyed her mechanical engineering and research work during her early career, her exposure to a wide breath of applications and analysis really drove Ms. Strank toward program development.

Following completion of an MBA at UT Austin, Ms. Strank became the Assistant Director for UT-CEM. Today she works closely with Center Program Managers to implement a funding strategy for the Center. She identifies and interacts with potential research sponsors, including individuals, corporations and foundations, to ensure that UT-CEM maintains diverse funding sources toward world changing research. At UT-CEM, relationships with all stakeholders are essential to the Center’s success. Ms. Strank manages communication of UT-CEM’s accomplishments and activities both within UT and to external partners. Most importantly, she leverages her experience as both a mechanical engineer and a business manager to ensure the Center produces novel technologies to benefit the ever-changing needs of industry.

In addition to her program development responsibilities, she also provides oversight and guidance for a number of projects under the UT-CEM Grid Solutions program. These applications include electric ship MVDC design and control, fault prediction and mitigation, fault detection and lifetime prediction for insulative materials, and more.