Five questions with a term faculty researcher

Materials science and engineering associate teaching professor David Eisenmann doesn't slow down in the summer, his responsibilities just shift. Eisenmann is an example of a faculty member who juggles multiple tasks to help students and working professionals.

This summer, he is balancing four research projects that involve a team of graduate and undergraduate students in an Applied Sciences Complex lab and he spent a few days at Eastern Iowa Community College in the Quad Cities to teach a course to working professionals. This fall, he will be back in the classroom. Eisenmann recently talked with Inside about his work and the impact of being at Iowa State much of his life.

What makes you unique among term faculty at the university?

As a term faculty, my position responsibility statement is set at 75% teaching and 25% service. Since I oversee the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) minor for the College of Engineering, I teach two courses each semester instead of three and I do research, which makes me one of the few term faculty that has research expenditures. I also am a full member of the Graduate College which allows me to be a full major professor for students.

What is nondestructive evaluation and why is Iowa State a leader in the field?

My tagline is NDE keeps the world safe. It's about finding flaws in material before they become critical, and we try to mitigate that as much as we can in manufacturing.  We are the only university in the nation to offer the NDE minor, and we also have a graduate-level certificate program. The Center for Nondestructive Evaluation is housed at the Applied Sciences Complex. A company in Los Angeles told me that when it thinks of nondestructive evaluation, it thinks of Iowa State.

Every semester, I teach principles of nondestructive evaluation. In the spring I teach failure analysis and corrosion, and in the fall I teach ultrasonics. The work can go from ground-penetrating radar for seed deduction in a field, to research on steel castings using ultrasound to try and replace radiography -- using radiation to provide images -- in the steel industry.

What's rewarding about your work at Iowa State?

When I took over the NDE minor, we had 20 students; now we have 67. I have students who don’t know anything about NDE, but once they find out about it they realize this is the career for them. We need new, young people in this field because the population is getting older. 

What appeals to you about working with graduate and undergraduate students?

I taught high school physics and chemistry until 1999. There was more I wanted to know, so I enrolled in materials engineering at Iowa State at 38 years old. I mentor several students each year and they are always pushing the envelope and teaching me new things. I have had a research group since the spring because students get involved and they want to know more and do more. We meet once a week -- last semester I had two graduate students and four or five undergrads -- and I direct them on my projects, which can vary drastically. Doing research helps tremendously in teaching the courses because I am familiar with what is happening in the world right now.

Iowa State has created many opportunities for you. Tell us about that.

I graduated from Iowa State in 1985 with a bachelor's  degree in agriculture and went into farming. I got my teaching degree before returning to Iowa State to get a undergraduate degree in materials engineering and a Ph.D. in materials science engineering. From 2001 through 2019, I was a research scientist with the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation before I became a faculty member. I had already been teaching for a couple of years through the agriculture and biosystems engineering department when a term faculty position opened up.