Announcing the Clifford and Eric Cremers Chair in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The University of Kentucky Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering proudly announces the establishment of the Clifford Cremers and Eric Cremers Chair in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This endowment is made possible through a generous gift from mechanical engineering alumnus, Eric Cremers ’84 and his wife Laura, in honor of Eric’s late father, Clifford Cremers.

Clifford Cremers, Ph.D., was a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Kentucky and served as department chair from 1975–1984 and again from 1994–1995. He was known as a pioneering leader with a deep commitment to engineering education and research. Cremers was an American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow and an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Associate Fellow. Cremers led a remarkable academic career that included organizing the only university-led engineering study of the Apollo moon samples. He passed away in 2003 at the age of 69.

Eric Cremers is the CEO of PotlatchDeltic Corporation. He and his wife, Laura, made the endowed gift to honor his father’s legacy and support the continued excellence of the department that helped shape his own career. Cremers also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and has held leadership positions at PotlatchDeltic, Albertsons and Piper Jaffray. He was inducted into the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering Hall of Distinction in 2018 and continues to support the college as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council.

“Establishing this chair is a tribute to my father’s passion for education and his enduring impact on the University of Kentucky,” said Eric Cremers. “It is also a way to give back to a department that laid the foundation for my own professional journey. I hope this gift helps support faculty excellence and innovation for generations to come.”

Jesse Hoagg, Ph.D., who currently serves as chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, will be the inaugural holder of the Clifford Cremers and Eric Cremers Chair.

Hoagg, the Donald and Gertrude Lester Professor, has served as a faculty member since 2010. His research is focused on developing and applying control theory across various areas of science and engineering, such as formation control methods for autonomous vehicles and robots, human learning and new control approaches for aerospace vehicles. Hoagg has authored 146 peer-reviewed publications, and his research has been supported by over $8 million in extramural funding from various organizations, including the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Agriculture, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation, and other industry funding sources.

“This named chair represents both a remarkable legacy and an exciting future,” said Hoagg. “Clifford Cremers helped build the department’s national reputation, and I’m honored to carry that legacy forward with the support of this generous gift from Eric and Laura Cremers.”

The Clifford Cremers and Eric Cremers Chair endowment fund will support the department in areas identified by the department chair including programmatic priorities, faculty recruitment, equipment and facilities renovation, and scholarships.