Bio
Dr. David Brookstein currently serves as Dean and Professor of the School of Engineering and Textiles at Philadelphia University. He has served in this capacity continuously since 1994. Prior to that he was Associate Director of the Albany International Research Co. in Mansfield, MA. In 2005 he received an additional appointment as the University's first Executive Director for Research.
Dr. Brookstein has taken a lead role to develop new engineering educational programming at Philadelphia University. In 2003 he led the development of Philadelphia University's first PhD program (Textile Engineering and Science) . In 2004 he led the development of a new program leading to a BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering.
In 2005 he led the refocus of the former School of Textiles and Materials Technology into one that emphasizes engineering and the school was renamed the School of Engineering and Textiles. A new group of engineering programs are now offered that have minor tracks in either architectural, environmental, mechanical, industrial or textile engineering.
He served on the research staff of Albany International continuously from 1980 until 1994 when he resigned to assume the deanship at Philadelphia University. At Albany International Research Co. he was responsible for managing textile engineering research products in a wide range of areas including high performance fabrics, biomedical fabrics, fiber reinforced composites and paper making machine fabrics. He joined the faculty of the School of Textile Engineering of the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech in 1975 and served continuously as an assistant professor of textile engineering until 1980 when he resigned to join the research staff of Albany International. In 1976 Brookstein was awarded the Doctor of Science degree from MIT for research in the field of mechanical engineering. His doctoral dissertation dealt with a textile-engineering analysis. In 1973 Brookstein was awarded the MS degree in Textile Technology from MIT and in 1971 he was awarded the Bachelor of Textile Engineering degree from Georgia Tech.
Dr. Brookstein is a listed inventor on 11 US patents dealing with textile engineering structures and processes. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers- International and was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1995. In 1992 he was elected Fellow of the Textile Institute (UK). In 1988 he was awarded The Fiber Society Award for Distinguished Achievement in Basic or Applied Fiber Science. In 1998 he was awarded the ASTM Harold DeWitt Smith Award by Committee D-13 Textiles for outstanding achievement in the science of textile fiber utilization. In 1993 he was the first American textile engineer to win the European Techtextil Innovation Prize. He has over 40 published papers in the field of textile engineering.