Albert F. Yee named UCI Division Director of Cal-(IT)2

Albert F. Yee, an internationally renowned materials science professor, researcher and engineer, has been named director of the University of California Irvine Division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, Cal-(IT)². Yee's appointment completes the leadership of a program jointly operated with the UC San Diego Division of Cal-(IT)².

Yee brings 32 years of professional and academic experience to institute and the university. He will hold a faculty position in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering.

"I look forward to joining this fast-growing institute and one of the highest-rated public universities in the U.S." said Yee. "As director, my primary goal will be to enhance partnerships between academia and industry assuring that Cal-(IT)² continues being a model of collaboration, as well as premiere cross-disciplinary center."

Yee's research focuses on the physical and mechanical properties of polymers and soft materials, particularly in how they impact nanotechnology. He has made important contributions regarding these materials, and his inventions in the field have led to two U.S. patents. Yee's work is significant to the development of complex micro- and nano-electronic and biomedicaldevices, which integrate many layers and channels of different materials. He intends to continue doing research, which will enhance Cal-(IT)²'s strength in materials and devices. Yee is coming to UC Irvine from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he was the chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department from 1994-2000, and he is currently a professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, and Chemical Engineering. While on sabbatical from Michigan, Yee served as the director of the Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (IMRE) in Singapore.

"Albert Yee is an international leader in his field. With Yee and Ramesh Rao, UCSD division director, we now have leadership for the core layers of the institute — materials, networking and software," said Larry Smarr, director of Cal-(IT)² and professor of computer science and engineering at the UCSD. "The experience Yee brings from his directorship at the Singapore institute, similar in complexity to Cal-(IT)², is critical to the success of this institute going forward."

Yee's career also includes more than a decade as an engineer and engineering manager at General Electric, as well as an industry consultant. He was named one of 19 highly cited materials scientists according to ISI (the Institute for Scientific Information) and has published more than 140 papers in scholastic journals. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the PMSE Division of the American Chemical Society. Yee received a B.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from UC Berkeley.

Yee's appointment begins on January 1, 2004. He will replace William H. Parker, UCI vice chancellor for research and dean of graduate studies, who has served as UCI's interim director of Cal-(IT)² .

UCI maintains on online directory of faculty available as experts to the media. To access, visit www.today.uci.edu/experts