Schools turn to remote learning to ‘de-densify’ The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted engineering, computer science, and technology programs across the United States to abandon face-to-face instruction in favor of online coursework. Seeking to “de-densify” student populations, some institutions discontinued on-campus classes for two or three weeks — or until further notice. Other institutions announced that they would not resume traditional classes this semester, regardless of any progress that public-health officials might make in containing the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. A number of schools also postponed spring commencement ceremonies — or canceled them outright. Professors scrambled to familiarize themselves with videoconferencing tools such as Zoom. “Remote learning has been an adjustment,” said Zachary Kum, a fourth-year electrical engineering student at UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering. and vice president of the UCLA Engineering Ambassadors. “But my professors have been extremely understanding and flexible as we all persevere through these times together.”

March 2020

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Dear Colleague:Although we, like you, are struggling to balance dueling imperatives — namely, the fulfillment of our core mission and the all-important promotion of societal health and safety — you can be assured that we at Harris Search Associates remain fully committed to serving your academic and professional needs, including the need to keep abreast of important developments in your field — both academic and non-academic. During these trying times, let’s all renew our commitment to staying connected. Together, we can, and will, overcome the health-related challenges currently confronting academia — and society as a whole. Please stay safe.

Jeffrey G. Harris Founder/Managing Partner Harris Search Associates

MIT remains No. 1 engineering program The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, and the University of California-Berkeley ranked first, second, and third, respectively, in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 listing of best graduate engineering schools. MIT has earned the No. 1 spot every year since 1990, when the magazine first ranked such programs. “There are close to 20 research centers on campus that explore topics as varied as cancer research, ocean engineering, and soldier nanotechnologies,” the magazine’s editors said in their review of MIT. “Students can also get involved with university initiatives like Transportation@MIT, an interdisciplinary program that examines travel issues. Students with ideas for new businesses can enter the $100K Entrepreneurship Competition for a chance to win start-up money.” Among individual engineering disciplines, MIT placed first in six areas: aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering (tied the California Institute of Technology); chemical engineering; computer engineering; electrical/electronic/communications engineering (tied with Stanford and California-Berkeley); materials engineering; and mechanical engineering. It placed second in nuclear engineering. Rounding out the magazine’s top 10 graduate programs in engineering: California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Michigan, tied for No. 4; Purdue University, No. 7; Georgia Institute of Technology, No. 8; University of California-San Diego (Jacobs), No. 9; and University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, University of Southern California (Viterbi), and University of Texas-Austin (Cockrell), tied for No. 10. The magazine bases its annual rankings on factors such as peer and recruiter assessments, GRE scores, acceptance rates, doctorates awarded, research expenditures, and faculty membership in the National Academy of Engineering.

Aerospace: 1 (tie)Biomedical: 3Chemical: 1Civil: 7 (tie)Computer: 1

Electrical: 1 (tie)Industrial: 6 (tie)Materials: 1Mechanical: 1Nuclear: 2

Aerospace: 3Biomedical: 4 (tie) Chemical: 4Civil: 3 (tie)Computer: 2 (tie)

Electrical: 1 (tie)Environmental: 1 (tie)Industrial: 6 (tie)Materials: 4 (tie)Mechanical: 2

Biomedical: 4 (tie) Chemical: 2 (tie)Civil: 1 (tie)Computer: 2 (tie)Electrical: 1 (tie)

Environmental: 1 (tie)Industrial: 3Materials: 2 (tie)Mechanical: 3Nuclear: 3 (tie)

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No. 1 School of Engineering

No. 2

No. 3

New Notre Dame major blends computer science and non-tech studies The University of Notre Dame is launching a bachelor of arts in computer science (BACS) major that will give students the opportunity to obtain a degree that integrates computer science with the arts, humanities, or social sciences. The BACS program will be based in the newly established Computing and Analytics Program Office in Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters. The new major will require 35 hours of coursework in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, including 23 hours of mandatory courses, such as Data Structures, Systems Programming, and Design and Analysis of Algorithms. In addition to completing mathematics requirements, College of Arts and Letters requirements, and the university’s Core Curriculum, degree candidates will enroll in at least 15 credit hours in a “cognate area of study” — an area of interest within Arts and Letters. READ MORE

Specialty rankings:

Specialty rankings:

Specialty rankings:

Berkeley’s largest-ever donation lays foundation for ‘Data Hub’ The University of California-Berkeley’s newly formed Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) soon will have a brick-and-mortar home, courtesy of an anonymous $252 million gift to seed the construction of a “Data Hub” on the northwest side of campus.The donation, which represents the single largest gift in Berkeley’s history, will provide core funding for “a sustainable, visually striking facility” that will accommodate the diverse array of students and faculty engaged in the university’s fastest-growing areas of study. “The Data Hub will be a magnet, bringing together scholars from disciplines across campus to forge new collaborations and take on some of the most critical questions facing society today — from biomedicine, to climate change and sustainability, to making data-informed public policy on issues of societal significance,” said Jennifer Chayes, PhD, associate provost for CDSS and dean of the School of Information. Besides faculty offices and classrooms, the building will contain robotics and other artificial intelligence laboratories, research centers, workroom spaces, and public gathering areas.

Canadian engineering program gets $20 million The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba in Canada bears a new name — the Price Faculty of Engineering — thanks to a $20 million donation from philanthropists Gerry and Barb Price. The Prices’ gift, earmarked for the engineering program, is the latest in a series of gifts from the couple. The total: more than $23.3 million. Earlier contributions went to support woman and indigenous students interested in pursing careers in engineering. Gerry Price holds two degrees from the university: an BS and an MS, both in mechanical engineering. He earned a PhD in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics from Pennsylvania’s Lehigh University. Under Price’s leadership, Winnipeg-based Price Industries, a leader in air distribution equipment and technology, has grown from 250 employees to more than 3,500 employees.

Philanthropists Gerry and Barb Price have given $20 million to the engineering program at the University of Manitoba.

University of Manitoba

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Each year, more than 6,000 undergraduates complete a data science course at the University of California-Berkeley.

University of California-Berkeley

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Innovators podcast

“Building elegant technological solutions to complex scientific problems,” featuring Klemen Zupancic, PhD, CEO of SciNote LISTEN

“Tearing down walls — one relationship at a time,” featuring Raquel Tamez, JD, CEO of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers LISTEN

“The role of the land-grant university,” featuring Susan Fritz, PhD, executive vice president and provost of the University of Nebraska LISTEN

“Beware the weakest link: Global food security depends on a sound supply chain,” featuring Eleftherios Iakovou, PhD, director of manufacturing and logistics innovation initiatives at Texas A&M’s Engineering Experiment Station LISTEN

“One Health: the other universal healthcare,” featuring Michael D. Lairmore, DVM, PhD, dean of the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine LISTEN

“Attracting international students to U.S. engineering program,” featuring Leo Kempel, PhD, dean of the College of Engineering at Michigan State University LISTEN

“The importance of partnerships in academia and healthcare,” featuring Charles Taylor, PharmD, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the University of North Texas LISTEN

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“Houston, we don’t have a problem: Taking a mission-oriented approach to academic leadership”

Lesa B. Roe, MS Chancellor of the University of North Texas System

Robert M. Briber, PhD, has been named interim dean of the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering. The appointment is effective April 1, the day after the current dean, Darryll J. Pines, PhD, steps down to prepare to become the university’s president July 1. Briber has served as associate dean for research for five years. Before that, he chaired the Materials Science and Engineering Department.

John Antonio, PhD, interim dean of the Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in Norman, will conclude his yearlong tenure July 1 and return to his permanent post at OU: senior associate dean and Howard and Suzanne Kauffmann Chair in Engineering. Antonio taught at Purdue University and Texas Tech before joining OU as a professor and director of computer science in 1999.

Peter M. Chen, PhD, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, has been named interim chair of the department. He succeeds Brian D. Noble, PhD, who stepped down last month. Chen’s research interests include operating systems, computer security, and fault-tolerant computing — with a focus on computer forensics and security.

Kirk Dombrowski, PhD, has been named vice president for research at the University of Vermont. Dombrowski most recently was associate dean for research and partnerships at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Previously, he served as director of the Rural Drug Addiction Research Center, interim director of the Nebraska Center for Virology, and director of UNL’s Minority Health Disparities Initiative.

Gary Amerson, MS, has been selected as the inaugural director of the Center for Cyber Security at Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama, after a national search. Amerson joins Auburn-Montgomery from the Naval Education and Training Command, where he was the head of the Operational Cyber Security Support Branch at Florida’s Saufley Field. He formerly taught cybersecurity at Nebraska’s Bellevue University.

Kerry Case, MS, has been named chief sustainability officer at the University of Utah. Case, who was scheduled to assume her duties earlier this month, most recently served as assistant provost for integrative learning at Utah’s Westminster College. Before that, she managed a green building demonstration and education center at Utah State University.

In Transition

Martha L. Banz, PhD, has been named dean of the College of Professional and Continuing Studies at the University of Oklahoma. She had served as interim dean since 2017. Banz is also executive director of the FAA Center of Excellence for Technical Training and Human Performance, a consortium of research institutions dedicated to improving the technical training of aviation and aerospace professionals.

John Klier, PhD, has been appointed dean of the Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, effective July 1. Klier, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, is currently head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Before joining UMass in 2015, he spent 25 years in various technical management positions at Dow Chemical Co.

Scott E. Feller, PhD, dean of Indiana’s Wabash College since 2014, has been named acting president of the institution. He will succeed Gregory D. Hess, who is stepping down at the end of the 2019-20 school year to become CEO of IES Abroad. Feller, Lloyd B. Howell Professor of Chemistry, joined the faculty of Wabash’s Chemistry Department in 1998. He later served as chair of the department.

Kaye Husbands Fealing, PhD, professor and chair of the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech, has been named dean and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair of the university’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, effective June 1. Fealing formerly served as a study director at the National Academy of Sciences and held several positions with the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Chris Hickman, MS, has been appointed dean of industrial technology at Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kansas. Before assuming the administrative role in February, Hickman spent nine years as a process technology professor at the school. The U.S. Navy veteran formerly worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Karin Edwards, EdD, has been named president of Clark College in Vancouver, Washington. Since 2014, she has been president of Portland Community College’s Cascade campus. In that role, she supervises advanced manufacturing programs at the Swan Island Trades Center, which houses the Oregon school’s Apprenticeship and Trades Department and its Maritime Welding Training Center.

K. Russell Jones, PhD, has been appointed dean of Arkansas Tech University’s College of Business. Jones most recently served as the Kathy White Professor of Management Information Systems at Arkansas State University (ASU). Previous roles at ASU included chair of accounting and computer information technology, associate professor of decision sciences, and assistant professor of computer information science.

Jeffrey W. Holmes, MD, PhD, has been appointed dean of the School of Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, effective in July. Holmes is currently at the University of Virginia, where he’s a professor of biomedical engineering and medicine and inaugural director of the Center for Engineering in Medicine. He formerly taught at Columbia University, where he helped found the Biomedical Engineering Department.

Francisco Lopez Viray, PhD, has been named dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Iloilo in the Philippines. Viray, a former secretary of the Philippines’ Department of Energy, has more than 40 years of experience in fields such as corporate management, academic administration, and power-system engineering. He most recently served as president of Shin Clark Power Holdings.

Sabyasachi “Saby” Mitra, PhD, senior associate dean of faculty and research and Thomas R. Williams-Wells Fargo Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been named dean of the University of Florida Warrington College of Business. Mitra will begin his new role August 1. The information technologist joined Georgia Tech’s faculty in 1993 as an assistant professor of information systems.

Nicole S. Sampson, PhD, distinguished professor of chemistry at New York’s Stony Brook University, has been appointed dean of the institution’s College of Arts and Sciences. She had held the position on an interim basis since July 2018. Sampson joined Stony Brook’s faculty in 1993 as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, which she chaired from 2012 to 2017.

J. Michael McConnell, MPA, a former Navy vice admiral who headed the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996 and served as director of national intelligence from 2007 to 2009, has been named executive director of the University of South Florida’s Center for Cybersecurity (Cyber Florida). Created by the state’s Legislature in 2014, the center is charged with positioning Florida as the “cyber state.”

Patricia Nava, PhD, became interim dean of the University of Texas at El Paso College of Engineering earlier this month. Nava has been a member of the college’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering since 1996. She formerly taught at Northern Arizona University and California State University, Los Angeles. She also worked as an engineer at White Sands Missile Range and at IBM.

Theresa A. Maldonado, PhD, has been named vice president of the newly organized Office of Research and Innovation at the University of California System. The unit is part of the Academic Affairs Division within the Office of the President. Maldonado most recently served as dean and Riter Professor of Engineering and professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Bill Lansden, MS, has been named senior director of development in the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Lansden, who has 24 years of experience in development and external relations, most recently served as senior associate athletic director at Virginia Tech. In that role, he led a 19-person team responsible for all facets of a comprehensive athletic development program.

Blake Wentz, PhD, has been named dean of the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management at California State University-Chico, effective in July. Wentz now chairs the Department of Civil & Architectural Engineering & Construction Management at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Before assuming that role in 2014, he spent five years as head of the construction management program.

Melody Stapleton, PhD, interim dean of California State University-Chico’s College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management since fall 2018, will conclude her tenure in July and return to her permanent post: associate dean of the college. Stapleton, who joined Chico State’s faculty in 1981, served as department chair for computer science from 2012 to 2017.

Aondover Tarhule, PhD, has been named vice president for academic affairs and provost at Illinois State University, effective July 1. Jan Murphy, who has served in the role since 2017, will retire this summer. Tarhule is now vice provost and dean of the Graduate School at New York’s Binghamton University. Tarhule formerly was executive associate dean of atmospheric and geographic sciences at the University of Oklahoma.

Sri Sridharan, MS, director of the Florida Center for Cybersecurity (Cyber Florida), will retire in June. The center, established by the Florida Legislature six years ago, is charged with positioning the state as a national leader in cybersecurity. Sridharan has more than 40 years of experience and three master’s degrees — in computer science, mathematics, and applied mathematics.

Edward Seidel, PhD, the University of Illinois System’s vice president for economic development and innovation, has been named the University of Wyoming’s 28th president, effective in July. Seidel, a fellow of the American Physical Society, is now a Founder Professor in the Department of Physics, a professor in the Department of Astronomy, and a research professor in the Department of Computer Science.

Annette Trimbee, PhD, president and vice-chancellor at the University of Winnipeg since 2014, has been named president of MacEwan University in Edmonton, Canada. The appointment is effective August 1. Outside the academy, Trimbee, whose background is in botany, zoology, and marine ecology, formerly served as Alberta’s deputy minister for advanced education and technology.

Bill Spindle, EdD, has begun his tenure as vice president for finance and administration at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Spindle most recently served as vice president for business affairs and chief financial officer at Texas A&M in San Antonio. The former Air Force colonel previously spent nine years as vice chancellor for administrative services at the University of Alaska in Anchorage.

Last word

Our headlines

“— An excerpt from the special message that Mark Somerville, PhD, interim provost and dean

of faculty at Massachusetts’ Olin College of Engineering, shared during the school’s recent “Fauxmencement” ceremony, which students cobbled together — complete with origami mortarboards and yarn tassels — before coronavirus concerns shut down their campus

Learn how Harris Search Associates can help you and your institution

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Now Fauxmencement’s at an end, And we’re going all online. Olin’s gonna miss you all … ’Cuz you’re awesome, not just fine. The last 3.75 years with you Have been nothing but fun, But you still have seven weeks of work, So don’t think that you’re done.”

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