New Dean of Engineering and Applied Sciences is Appointed

Venkatesh ("Venky") Narayanamurti will become the next dean of the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences (DEAS) and Gordon McKay Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy R. Knowles announced this week.

The DEAS, a part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, encompasses teaching and research in mechanical engineering and materials science; computer science and electrical, computer, and systems engineering; applied physics; and atmospheric, oceanic, and environmental science and engineering. The DEAS has approximately 60 faculty members, 400 undergraduate concentrators, and 180 graduate students.

An accomplished scientist and administrator in private industry and academia, Narayanamurti is currently dean of the College of Engineering and Richard A. Auhll Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. As dean at Santa Barbara since 1992, Narayanamurti has led a school of more than 100 faculty and approximately 1,600 undergraduates and graduate students. He has successfully established new interdisciplinary programs, substantially raised the level of external funding for faculty research, and improved the CollegeÕs computing infrastructure through an innovative partnership with the private sector.

"I am eager to welcome Venky to Harvard, and to the Division," Knowles said. "The next decade will be critical in shaping the DivisionÕs future, as we complete the new Maxwell-Dworkin building for Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, add new faculty colleagues, and pursue new areas of teaching, research, and collaboration. VenkyÕs insight and enthusiasm, and his deep experience in both the private sector and academia, will be crucial to the success of these efforts."

In accepting the appointment, Narayanamurti said, "I am very much looking forward to joining Harvard this fall. We live in a knowledge economy and in an era of rapid technological change. Thus engineering and applied sciences will be expected to play an increasingly important role over the next decade.

ÒI am particularly excited by the prospect of participating in Harvard's intellectually stimulating atmosphere, and by the opportunity both to shape the future through new faculty appointments and to pursue new educational and research linkages."

Narayanamurti received his bachelorÕs and masterÕs degrees in physics from the University of Delhi, and a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University. From 1968 to 1987, he was with AT&T Bell Laboratories, where he served as director of the Solid State Electronics Research Laboratory from 1981 to 1987. From 1987 to 1992, he was vice president of research and exploratory technology at Sandia National Laboratories. Throughout his career, Narayanamurti has maintained an active research program, most recently in the area of transport in semiconductor quantum structures, where his laboratory has pioneered the use of ballistic electron emission microscopy.

Narayanamurti has served on numerous national and international advisory committees, including his current chairmanship of the National Research Council panel on Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, the IEEE, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Narayanamurti will assume the deanship in late September. Paul Martin, the John H. Van Vleck Professor of Pure and Applied Physics, who has led the Division for more than 20 years, will continue as dean until Narayanamurti takes up the post full-time early in the fall.

"Venky Narayanamurti is an outstanding academic leader whose role will be essential to the future of the sciences at Harvard," said President Neil L. Rudenstine. "The DEAS is the University's major focal point for research and teaching in engineering, computer science, and information technology, and in the applied sciences more broadly. Harvard has already begun to expand its programs in the DEAS, and that progress must continue. The new dean will play a vital part in steering our efforts, in partnership with colleagues in the FAS, as well as fellow deans and others across the University."