Engineering College Leadership
Lynden Archer
Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering
James A. Friend Family Distinguished Professor in Engineering, Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
David Croll Director of the Energy Systems Institute
242 Carpenter Hall
607-255-9679
engineering_dean@cornell.edu
Lynden Archer joined the Cornell University faculty in 2000. He received the Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University in 1993 and a B.S. degree in chemical engineering (polymer science) from the University of Southern California in 1989. During the period 1993-94 he was a postdoctoral member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and from 1994-1999 was a member of the chemical engineering faculty at Texas A&M University. During the period 2010-2016 he served as the Director of the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell, and in fall of 2017 was appointed Director of the Cornell Energy Systems Institute. Prof. Archer is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a Member of the National Academy of Engineering. His research contributions have been recognized with a variety of awards, including the National Science Foundation award for Special Creativity, the American Institute for Chemical Engineers Centennial Engineer & Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum awards, and the Thompson-Reuters “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” recognition in Materials Science. At Cornell, his contributions to teaching have been recognized with the James and Mary Tien’s award for excellence in teaching and thrice by Merrill Presidential Fellows as the most influential member of the Cornell University faculty.
Kathryn Caggiano
Associate Dean for M.Eng. Programs
Professor of Practice, School of Operations Research and Information Engineering
222 Carpenter Hall
607-255-2370
kec4@cornell.edu
Kathryn Caggiano oversees all activities associated with Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) student education and professional development in Cornell Engineering. She joined Cornell’s School of Operations Research and Information Engineering in 2007 and directed the school’s M.Eng. program from 2007 to 2023. Prior to Cornell, she was a faculty member in the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Outside of academia, she has held positions with Price Waterhouse Management Consulting Services (now PwC) and PeopleSoft (now Oracle) in technology and supply chain consulting.
Silvia Ferrari
Associate Dean for Cross-Campus Engineering Research
John Brancaccio Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Upson Hall, Room 543
ferrari@cornell.edu
Silvia Ferrari, the John Brancaccio Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University, designs and develops impactful initiatives and cross-campus research partnerships that lead to research centers of excellence that span Cornell campuses. Prior to joining Cornell, Ferrari was professor of engineering and computer science at Duke University, where she founded and directed an NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship and Fellowship program on Wireless Intelligent Sensor Networks. She received her B.S. degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University.
José Martínez
Senior Associate Dean for Diversity and Academic Affairs
Lee Teng-hui Professor of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering
220 Carpenter Hall
607-255-9545
martinez@cornell.edu
In addition to his Associate Dean role, José Martínez is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, faculty member of the graduate fields of Computer Science and Systems Engineering, and a faculty fellow of the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell. José's research is in computer architecture. He is currently Assistant Director of the DARPA/SRC Center for Research in Intelligent Storage and Processing in Memory (CRISP), as well as co-founder and part of the Executive Committee of Cornell’s Initiative for Digital Agriculture (CIDA).
Erin Mulrooney
Associate Dean for Administration
249 Carpenter Hall
607-255-4914
esm246@cornell.edu
Erin Mulrooney joined Cornell in 2016 after leaving the University of Chicago where she served as the assistant vice president for strategic resources and chief operating officer for facilities services. Prior to the University of Chicago, she spent 16 years at the University of Pennsylvania, ultimately serving in an administrative and financial officer role. Mulrooney holds a Master of Science degree in organizational dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Lois Pollack
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
John Edson Sweet Professor of Engineering
223 Carpenter Hall
lp26@cornell.edu
After receiving her Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from MIT, Lois Pollack came to Cornell to work with the Low Temperature Physics group. She was a Postdoctoral Associate (1989-1991) and a Research Associate (1991-1997) in the Microkelvin Laboratory. In 1997, with support from the NSF and the LASSP Biophysics Group, she changed the focus of her research program to Biophysics. In 1999 she became Senior Research Associate in LASSP. She joined the faculty in Applied and Engineering Physics in 2000. Her research focuses on developing and applying physics-based tools to gain insight into outstanding problems in molecular biology. She received the Swanson Excellence in Teaching Award in 2003, and the Chau Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012.
Amie Prince
Chief of Staff
241 Carpenter Hall
607-255-4853
ajp246@cornell.edu
Amie Prince develops and implements strategies that ensure the success of Cornell Engineering, and manages the Dean's office administrative support staff. She first joined Cornell Engineering in 2014 as the administrative director for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She previously held various positions within Cornell University, including Senior Grant & Contract Officer and Manager of Export Controls. Prior to her current position, Amie served as the college’s Director of Strategic Planning and Special Projects.
David Putnam
Associate Dean for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Professor, Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering and Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
221 Carpenter Hall
607-255-4352
dap43@cornell.edu
David Putnam joined Cornell Engineering in 2002. Formerly, he was an NIH postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT in the laboratory of Professor Robert Langer. He was a Scientific co-Founder of startup company, TransForm Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2005, and was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at PureTech Ventrures in Boston, MA where he focused on emerging technologies in the field of drug delivery. He is currently a member of seven Editorial Advisory Boards including Pharmaceutical Research, Journal of Controlled Release, Analytical Biochemistry and Experimental Biology and Medicine. He is a Fellow of AIMBE, the National Academy of Inventors, and the Coulter Foundation. His research group focuses on the design and synthesis of functional biomaterials using organic polymer chemistry and micro/molecular biology.
Stephen Smith
Associate Dean of Alumni Affairs and Development
607-255-8285
sjs422@cornell.edu
Stephen Smith leads the alumni affairs and development team and serves as the chief development officer for the college. He came to Cornell in 2013 with experience building fundraising operations for political campaigns and managing marquee events for the American Diabetes Association. Stephen was with the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration School for nearly six years, where he served as Associate Director and was the inaugural co-chair of the Staff Advisory Group for the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. In Cornell Engineering, he previously served as Director of Development before being appointed to his current role in 2022.
Miranda Swanson
Associate Dean for Student Services
184 Frank H. T. Rhodes Hall
607-255-8240
m.swanson@cornell.edu
Miranda Swanson oversees the offices of undergraduate admissions, advising, engineering learning initiatives, the registrar and the career center. She works with the dean, associate deans and faculty to prioritize the college’s undergraduate goals, programs and initiatives. Miranda came to Cornell from the University of Chicago where she spent 16 years working in student affairs, most recently serving as Dean of Students in the Physical Sciences Division. Miranda holds a Masters of Arts in Humanities from the University of Chicago.
Alan Zehnder
Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs
Professor, Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
167 Olin Hall
607-255-0393
eng_ugdean@cornell.edu
Alan Zehnder received his doctorate in mechanical engineering with a minor in materials science from the California Institute of Technology. He stayed on as a postdoctoral research fellow for one year, and joined the Cornell faculty in 1988. In 1993 he was the faculty member in residence in Hamburg, Germany, for the Cornell Engineering Abroad program. He was a visiting Professor at Caltech in the 1996-97 academic year. In summer of 1998 he served as a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Carderock, Maryland. In 2004 he was a Guest Professor at the Vienna University of Technology. He also served as Associate Dean for Diversity and Faculty Development in the College of Engineering. Zehnder is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society for Experiment Mechanics.
Reeve Hamilton
Director of Marketing and Communications
252 Carpenter Hall
607-255-6095
reeve.hamilton@cornell.edu
Reeve Hamilton joined Cornell Engineering in 2021. He previously served as director of media relations and communications at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as well as assistance vice chancellor of marketing and communications at the Texas A&M University System. He was one of the original reporters for the Texas Tribune, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Texas Monthly, and many other publications. He received his B.A. with honors from Vanderbilt University and holds a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University.
Geoffrey Abers
Director and William and Katherine Snee Professor in Geological Sciences, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
2116 Snee Hall
607-255-3034
abers@cornell.edu
Geoff Abers is a geophysicist who uses the tools of earthquake seismology to understand the forces, material cycles, and deep structure of the Earth. He uses modern seismic instrument arrays onshore and offshore to image high-resolution structure in the crust and mantle, and uses those images to understand the material and fluid cycles of the planet. He received his Sc.B. from Brown University in 1983, his Ph.D. from MIT in 1989, and has had research or faculty positions at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, the University of Kansas, and Boston University. He joined the Cornell faculty in 2014. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the the Geological Society of America, and a member of the Seismological Society of America. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, and former chair of the US MARGINS program.
Alyssa Apsel
Director and Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
229 Phillips Hall
607-255-3962
apsel@ece.cornell.edu
Alyssa Apsel joined Cornell in 2002 and became Director of Electrical and Computer Engineering in July 2018. She received her B.S. from Swarthmore College in 1995 and her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 2002. She has authored or coauthored over 100 refereed publications in related fields of RF mixed signal circuit design, ultra-low power radio, photonic integration with VLSI, and circuit design techniques in the presence of variation resulting in five patents and several pending patent applications. The focus of Apsel's research is on power-aware mixed signal circuits and design for highly scaled CMOS and modern electronic systems. Her current focus is on low power radio for IoT and reconfigurable multi-standard radio to extend the reach of wireless communications.
Susan Daniel
William C. Hooey Director of the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and the Fred H. Rhodes Professor of Chemical Engineering
256 Olin Hall
607-255-4675
sd386@cornell.edu
Susan Daniel is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science, a recipient of Cornell’s Schwartz Life Science Award, and a recipient of Cornell Engineering’s Research Excellence Award. She is known internationally for her work on interfacial dynamics and biophysics of bilayer membranes and her group pioneered the use of cell-free bio-membrane platforms for creating cellular processes on a chip, with realistic molecular and biological complexity. Most recently, her work has been used to elucidate infection mechanisms and associated therapeutic response of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. As an award-winning faculty advisor for the CBE Graduate Women’s Group, director of graduate studies in the Smith School, and founder of the school’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program, Daniel has demonstrated creativity and impact in leadership roles.
David Erickson
S.C. Thomas Sze Director and Sibley College Professor, Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Joint Professor, Division of Nutritional Sciences
139 Upson Hall
607-255-4861
de54@cornell.edu
David Erickson is the SC Thomas Sze Director and Sibley College Professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He is also a joint Professor within the Division of Nutritional Sciences. His research focuses on: mobile and global health technology, medical diagnostics, microfluidics, photonics, and nanotechnology. Prior to joining the faculty, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology and he received his PhD. degree from the University of Toronto. Research in the Erickson lab is primarily funded through grants from the NSF, NIH, ARPA-E, ONR, DOE, DOD, Nutrition International, and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). Prof. Erickson has helped to found numerous start-up companies commercializing: high-throughput pharmaceutical instrumentation, biomedical diagnostics, and energy technologies including Halo Labs, VitaScan and Dimensional Energy. Dr. Erickson has received the DARPA-MTO Young Faculty Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the Department of Energy Early Career Award, among others. In 2011, he was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). For his efforts in co-founding the field of optofluidics, Erickson has been named a fellow of the Optical Society of America and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Lara A. Estroff
Director and Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
329 Bard Hall
607-255-5256
lae37@cornell.edu
Lara A. Estroff received her B.A. with honors from Swarthmore College (1997), with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Anthropology. Before beginning her graduate studies, she spent a year at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel as a visiting researcher in the labs of Profs Lia Addadi and Steve Weiner. During this time, she was introduced to the field of biomineralization and studied chemical approaches to archeological problems. In 2003, she received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Yale University for work done in Prof. Andrew D. Hamilton's laboratory on the design and synthesis of bio-inspired organic superstructures to control the growth of inorganic crystals. After completing graduate school, she was an NIH-funded postdoctoral fellow in Prof. George M. Whiteside's laboratory at Harvard University (2003-2005). Since 2005, Dr. Estroff has been in Materials Science and Engineering department at Cornell University and in 2019 she was promoted to Full Professor. She served as the Director of Graduate Studies in the department from 2015-2019. Her group focuses on bio-inspired materials synthesis, in particular, the study of crystal growth mechanisms in gels and their relationships to biomineralization. She has received several awards, including an NSF Early Faculty Career Award in 2009 and a J.D. Watson Young Investigator’s award from NYSTAR in 2006.
Huaizhu Oliver Gao
Director, Systems Engineering
Howard Simpson Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
314 Hollister Hall
607-254-8334
hg55@cornell.edu
Dr. Gao is the Director of the Cornell Systems Engineering Program and Howard Simpson Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. Gao is an international leading expert in urban infrastructure, transportation, and environment systems analytics/modeling and innovation for healthy living in smart communities. His research focuses on urban technology, data science, integrated computational engineering models, and trans-disciplinary systems solutions for intelligent urban systems, low carbon and low emission transportation, and human-centered urban design for environment and public health. He is an elected member in the graduate fields of 1) Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2) Computer Science and Engineering; 3) Air Quality in Earth and Atmospheric Science, and 4) Systems Engineering at Cornell University. As the funding director, Gao spearheads cross-disciplinary systems research at the Center for Transportation, Environment, and Community Health (CTECH). Gao received his graduate degrees, (Ph.D. in CEE, M.S. in Statistics, and M.S. in Agriculture and Resource Economics), from the University of California at Davis in 2004, M.S. degree in Civil Engineering in 1999, and duel undergraduate degrees in Civil Engineering and Environmental Science in 1996 from Tsinghua University, China. In 2014-2018, he served as the Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment. Before joining Cornell, Gao was a QUANT in the mathematical and econometrical modeling division at the Rohatyn Group, LLG, a Wall Street hedge fund specializing in emerging markets including the BRIC countries.
Mark Lewis
Director and Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Engineering, School of Operations Research and Information Engineering
146 Olin Hall
607-255-0979
mel47@cornell.edu
Professor Lewis received his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Political Science from Eckerd College in 1992, his Master's degree in Theoretical Statistics from Florida State University in 1995, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1998. After receiving his doctorate, Lewis spent a year at the University of British Columbia as a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Operations Excellence. He joined Cornell as an Associate Professor in 2005 after teaching Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan.
Lindsay Anderson
Department Chair, Biological and Environmental Engineering
Professor, Biological and Environmental Engineering
House Professor Dean, William Keeton House
Interim Director, Cornell Energy Systems Institute
104 Riley-Robb Hall
607-255-4533
BEEChair@cornell.edu
Catherine (Lindsay) Anderson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological & Environmental Engineering at Cornell. Her research focuses on energy system decarbonization, at the interface of environmental and systems engineering, electric power systems, applied optimization and decision science. Lindsay also serves as the interim Director of the Cornell Energy Systems Institute, and was previously the Kathy Dwyer Marble and Curt Marble Faculty Director for Energy with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Dr. Anderson received a B.Sc.(Engineering) and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from University of Guelph (Canada) and Ph.D in Applied Mathematics from the University of Western Ontario (Canada).
Marjolein van der Meulen
James M. and Marsha McCormick Director of Biomedical Engineering and Swanson Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering
219 Upson Hall
607-255-1445
MCV3@cornell.edu
Marjolein van der Meulen is a senior scientist in the Research Division of the Hospital for Special Surgery. Her research in orthopaedic biomechanics focuses on the interaction between mechanical stimuli and the skeleton, and the mechanical properties of musculoskeletal tissues. She received her S.B. (1987) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her M.S. (1989), and Ph.D. (1993) from Stanford University, all in mechanical engineering. She has been a member of the Cornell faculty since 1996
Linda K. Nozick
Director and Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
220 Hollister Hall
607-255-3690
lkn3@cornell.edu
Linda Nozick joined the faculty at Cornell in 1992 after completing her doctorate. She has also been a visiting associate professor in the Operations Research Department at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and a visiting professor in the General Motors Global R&D Center in Warren, Mich. Her fields of expertise is complex systems modeling with an emphasis on critical infrastructure systems and hazardous materials transportation. She earned a B.S. in systems analysis and engineering from The George Washington University in 1989 and M.S.E. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in systems engineering in 1990 and 1992, respectively.
Éva Tardos
Chair and Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Computer Science, Department of Computer Science
316 Gates Hall
607-255-0984
chair@cs.cornell.edu
Éva Tardos received her Dipl.Math. in 1981, and her Ph.D. 1984, from Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary. She joined Cornell in 1989, and was Chair of the Department of Computer Science 2006-2010. She has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is an external member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences,and is the recipient of a number of fellowships and awards including the IEEE John von Neumann Medal, Packard Fellowship, the Gödel Prize, Dantzig Prize, and the Fulkerson Prize. She was editor editor-in-Chief of SIAM Journal of Computing 2004-2009, and is currently editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the ACM, and editor of some other journals including the Theory of Computing, and Combinatorica.
Chris Xu
Director and IBM Professor of Engineering, School of Applied and Engineering Physics
276 Clark Hall
607-255-1460
cx10@cornell.edu
Chris Xu is Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, the Mong Family Foundation Director of Cornell Neurotech – Engineering, the director of Cornell NeuroNex Hub, an NSF funded center for developing neurotechnology, and Director of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics. His current research areas are fiber optics and biomedical imaging, with major thrusts in multiphoton microscopy for deep brain imaging, multiphoton microendoscopy for clinical applications, and fiber-based devices and systems for telecommunications and optical imaging. His research is supported by major grants from NIH, NSF, DARPA, and IARPA. Prior to Cornell, he was a Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories. His main research focus at Bell Labs was on nonlinear imaging of semiconductor devices, fiber optics, and optical communications, including broadband access and ultralong haul transmission. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics, Cornell University, and his B.S. in Physics from Fudan University. He served as the Director of Graduate Studies in Applied Physics from 2007-2013, and the Director of Undergraduate Studies of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics from 2014 to 2016.
Dr. Xu has chaired or served on many conference organization committees and NSF/NIH review panels. He currently serves on the NIH NEI External Scientific Oversight Committee of the Audacious Goal Initiative and the OSA Biomedical Congress Strategic Planning Committee. He served as Associate Editor for Biomedical Optics Express, and is on the editorial boards of several journals. He has published 8 book chapters and ~ 300 journal and conference papers. Dr. Xu has delivered numerous (>260) plenary/keynote/invited conference presentations, research seminars, and outreach talks. He holds 24 patents on optical communications and imaging. He has won the NSF CAREER award, Bell Labs team research award, and the Tau Beta Pi and two other teaching awards from Cornell Engineering College. He received Cornell Engineering Research Excellence Award in 2017. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and a fellow of the Optical Society of America.