It's Great to be Here
Students, faculty, alumni and friends,
As we look back on an extraordinary year of both challenges and triumphs, we are grateful, mindful and hopeful. We are grateful that, despite the state’s fiscal challenges, we have emerged as a very strong academic unit.
1. The Henry Samueli School of Engineering hired 10 new faculty in the previous year. These faculty members are already establishing themselves as leaders in their fields.
2. The Samueli School continues to distinguish itself nationally. According to the 2012 U.S. News & World Report “Best Engineering Schools” graduate rankings, the School is now a top 25 public engineering program (top 40 overall including private schools). Furthermore, the School is the top ranked public in the country with less than 125 faculty members (the top 10 overall including private schools in this category). Finally, the School is in the top 12 in Ph.D. production per faculty member of all engineering programs nationally.
3. Our faculty members have continued to distinguish themselves. Professor G. Scott Samuelsen, Ph.D., was selected as one of the White House’s “Champions of Change” and Associate Professor Michelle Khine was selected by Marie Claire Magazine as a “Top Scientist” in their annual “Women on Top” awards. Assistant Professor Lorenzo Valdevit, Ph.D., and a team of researchers from HRL Laboratories, LLC; the University of California, Irvine; and the California Institute of Technology, have created the world’s lightest material. The material is 99.99 percent air and 100 times lighter than Styrofoam.
4. Our students continued to distinguish themselves nationally. This academic year, the School ushered in the largest and highest achieving freshman class in our history, as evidenced by the enrollment numbers and the overall 3.91 GPA.
5. Our staff members continued to distinguish themselves nationally. Staff members at the School were an integral part of the team, which won the 2011 Design-Build Institute of America award for educational buildings. The award was for an integrated approach to design and construction of Engineering Hall, a 122,000 square-foot facility, which primarily houses the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and The Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology.
We are mindful of the responsibility and trust that have been bestowed upon us by the citizens of this state to tackle and solve the pressing technical issues of our time. While the Samueli School has fared very well in recent years and has progressed to become a very good engineering program, our promise is to continue improving toward the goal of becoming even better. We are hopeful that the coming year brings more triumphs than challenges. I’m glad to begin this phase of the journey with you and I’m ecstatic to be here!
Gregory N. Washington, Ph.D.
Dean, The Henry Samueli School of Engineering