Monday, July 15, 2013

Albert Pisano Named Dean of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering



UC San Diego has named professor Albert P. (Al) Pisano, a highly accomplished mechanical engineer from UC Berkeley, as the next dean of the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Pisano’s appointment begins Sept. 1, 2013. The appointment follows an international search for a prominent research engineer to lead the Jacobs School of Engineering, which ranks 12th in the world according to theAcademic Ranking of World Universities.

An excerpt from the press release from the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering:
“I am honored to be given the opportunity to serve as the dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. The campus is ranked number one in terms of the public good. This to me is a big deal. If a university is not serving the public good, then we are not doing our job correctly,” said Albert Pisano, referring to the fact that in 2012, for the third consecutive year, UC San Diego ranked first in the nation for positive impact on the country by Washington Monthly’s College Guide. The ranking is based on research, the social mobility of students, and commitment to service. 
One of Pisano’s new projects is development of an inexpensive yet rugged sensor system that will predict landslides in the Philippines, a country where landslides are a deadly, national problem. 
“My secret to making a very rugged sensor is miniaturizing it as much as you can because that gets you the shock resistance. You beat temperature and corrosion by using slightly exotic materials, which also means the devices need to be small in order to keep materials costs down,” Pisano explained. Using MEMS, Pisano and his colleagues can make the sensors sufficiently small and rugged.

Media outlets covering the announcement: 

San Diego Union Tribune online story, July 15.

San Diego Union Tribune print story, July 16.

San Diego Business Journal story, July 16.

San Diego Daily Transcript story, July 15.

Daily Californian story, July 16. 

No comments:

Post a Comment