Rate My Professor Philip Rack

Philip Rack is a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, within the Tickle College of Engineering, where he holds the Leonard G. Penland Chair and directs the Center for Materials Processing. He earned his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in Materials Science and Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1993 and his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida in 1997, with dissertation research on thin film deposition, surface analysis, and theoretical modeling of optical transitions in thin film electroluminescent materials. After his doctorate, Rack joined Advanced Vision Technologies Inc. as a Senior Research Scientist in 1997, leading research on luminescent and field emitter materials and contributing to process development for vacuum microelectronic devices. In 1999, he became faculty in the Microelectronic Engineering Department at the Rochester Institute of Technology, teaching courses in thin film processing, materials characterization, and microlithography while researching VUV optical properties and vacuum microelectronic devices. Rack joined the University of Tennessee faculty in 2001. He served as interim head of the Materials Science and Engineering Department effective July 1, 2024, and received the Collaborative Leadership Award in November 2025 for promoting supportive environments, advancing leadership development, building partnerships, and fostering collaboration.