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Candidates for SEAS dean visit campus
By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor
The search for a new dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is moving forward, with the first two finalists being invited to visit campus this week and next week.
The candidates are Harvey G. Stenger Jr., professor of chemical engineering and former dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Lehigh University, and Seshu B. Desu, Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
An additional one to three candidates are expected to visit campus in the next few weeks, said Alexander Cartwright, chair of the SEAS Dean Search Committee and professor of electrical engineering.
Stenger was on campus Tuesday and yesterday; Desu will visit on Wednesday and on April 13. While on campus, the candidates will meet with faculty, staff, students, members of the university's senior leadership team and selected community partners and individuals, Cartwright said.
The search committee also plans to hold open meetings with the candidates for members of the general university community. An open meeting with Stenger was held yesterday. The open meeting with Desu had not been scheduled at Reporter press time.
"These candidates were selected from a large pool of excellent applicants," Cartwright said. "The on-campus visits will provide for expanded participation and input in the search process, and will allow the candidates to gain an enhanced understanding of the exciting opportunity available in the dean's position.
"The participation and input of a large number and wide variety of campus and community constituents is essential to the successful outcome of this search, so I urge interested individuals to participate to the fullest extent possible in these on-campus meetings," he said.
More information about the candidates is available at http://www.buffalo.edu/engineering-dean/. Comments may be sent to the search committee at engineering-dean@vpsa. buffalo.edu.
Stenger joined the Lehigh faculty in 1984 as an assistant professor of chemical engineering. He was promoted to full professor in 1991. He has held a variety of administrative positions at Lehigh in addition to the dean's post, including co-chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering, director of the Environmental Studies Center, and associate dean of the engineering college.
His research interests include hydrogen production, selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides, mercury reaction pathways, catalytic destruction of chlorinated hydrocarbons, fuel cell modeling and optimization.
He received a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Desu joined the UMass faculty in 1999 as head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He previously was a professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He also served as the director of the university's Center for Advanced Ceramic Materials.
His research interests include emerging electronic devices and novel processes for nano- and biodevices.
Desu received a bachelor's degree in mathematics, physics and chemistry from Andhra University, Waltair, AP, India; a master's degree in inorganic chemistry from Andhra University; a master's degree in materials science from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur; and a doctorate in materials science and engineering, with a minor in electrical engineering, from the University of Illinois-Urbana.