Ryan Named UB Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The appointment of Michael E. Ryan, associate dean in the University at Buffalo's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), as UB's vice provost and dean of undergraduate education was announced today by Satish K. Tripathi, the university's provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

Ryan, whose appointment is effective Jan. 1, 2005, "will lead university-wide efforts to ensure that undergraduate students are provided an excellent educational experience and have appropriate opportunities to engage in truly distinctive research, scholarly, creative and public-service activities," according to Tripathi.

"During Professor Ryan's tenure in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, he has worked tirelessly -- through providing innovative academic programming -- to promote the success of undergraduate students," Tripathi noted.

"His understanding of the entire undergraduate enterprise and the undergraduate experience, along with his first-hand knowledge of how faculty-guided research and creative activities enhance undergraduate education, make him ideally suited for this position."

A professor of chemical engineering, Ryan has been on UB's faculty since 1976. He served as director of the Business-Industry Affiliates Program in the New York State Center for Hazardous Waste Management at UB from 1988-94.

Ryan has served as associate dean for student services in SEAS since 1995 with responsibility for matters relating to undergraduate engineering curriculum, recruiting, admissions, advisement, retention and articulation, as well as student clubs, outreach and such activities as open house and commencement.

His research and teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels have been in the areas of polymer science and engineering, plastics processing, rheology and non-Newtonian fluid mechanics.

He has been a visiting scientist at the Industrial Materials Institute, National Research Council of Canada in Boucherville, Quebec, Canada; the Department of Chemical Engineering at McGill University in Montreal, Canada; and the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California at Davis.

A member of the editorial board for Advances in Polymer Technology, Ryan has authored or co-authored more than 75 scientific publications and was co-editor with R.R. Rumer of "Barrier Containment Technologies for Environmental Remediation Applications" (John Wiley & Sons, 1995). He has served as a reviewer for 19 journals and a consultant to more than 20 companies or corporations.

Ryan holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from McGill University.

He lives in Amherst.