Dean’s Office
Frederick Emmons Terman Dean
Jennifer Widom, a professor of computer science and of electrical engineering at Stanford University for more than two decades, became the Frederick Emmons Terman Dean of the School of Engineering in March 2017.
A distinguished researcher in data and information management, Widom with her group pioneered foundations and software systems for many nontraditional types and applications of data, including active databases, semi-structured data, data streams, uncertain data and data provenance. By placing all of her group’s prototype software in the public domain and providing technical advice to companies both big and small, she has influenced a wide swath of commercial data management and analysis tools over the years.
Widom is an Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She received the ACM-W Athena Lecturer Award in 2015, the ACM SIGMOD Edgar F. Codd Innovations Award in 2007 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2000.
Her research long predates the term “big data” and the recognition that data collection and analysis are critical to many aspects of scholarship and society. The increasing relevance of her own research area makes Widom particularly attuned to ways in which scholars of engineering and computer science can partner with others in a wide variety of fields.
Widom is also an innovator in engineering education. She taught one of Stanford’s first massive open online courses (MOOCs) and spent her 2016-17 sabbatical traveling the world teaching computer science in developing countries. Most recently she served as senior associate dean in the School of Engineering, where she co-led a long-range planning effort with colleague Arun Majumdar to map the future trajectory of one of the world’s leading engineering schools.
Widom, the Fletcher Jones Professor in Computer Science and professor of electrical engineering, served as chair of the Department of Computer Science from 2009 to 2014 and senior associate dean for faculty and academic affairs in the School of Engineering from 2014 to 2016. She received her bachelor’s degree in music from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 1982, and her computer science doctorate from Cornell University in 1987. Before joining the Stanford faculty in 1993, Widom was a researcher at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose.
Widom took a year off in 2007 to travel the world with her family when her two children were young. Her husband, Professor Alex Aiken, is currently the chair of the Department of Computer Science at Stanford, having succeeded Widom in that role in 2014. In addition to her husband, two of Widom’s family members are prominent scholars: Her father, Harold Widom, is a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz; her uncle Benjamin Widom is a professor emeritus of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University.
Senior Associate Deans
Ken Goodson, Senior Associate Dean, Faculty and Academic Affairs
Department: Mechanical Engineering, (by courtesy) Materials Science and Engineering
Ken Goodson is the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs and holds the Davies Family Provostial Professorship. Previously, he was the Robert Bosch Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department. He specializes in thermal sciences and electronics cooling and has 45 PhD alumni, nearly half of whom are professors at schools including Stanford, UC Berkeley, and MIT. Goodson is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow with ASME, IEEE, AAAS, APS, and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Honors include the ASME Kraus Medal and Heat Transfer Memorial Award, the AIChE Kern Award, the inaugural IEEE Richard Chu Award, and the SRC Technical Excellence and University Researcher Awards. Goodson has 35 patents and co-founded Cooligy, which developed cooling systems for Apple desktops. Goodson’s education at MIT includes the BS’89 and PhD’93 in mechanical engineering as well as the BS’89 in Music.
Thomas Kenny, Senior Associate Dean, Student Affairs
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Thomas Kenny is the Richard W. Weiland Professor in Mechanical Engineering. In 1994 he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His group is researching fundamental issues and applications of micromechanical structures. These devices are usually fabricated from silicon wafers using integrated circuit fabrication tools. Because this research field is multidisciplinary in nature, work in this group is characterized by strong collaborations with other departments, as well as with local industry. Kenny worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1989 to 1993, where his research focused on the development of electron-tunneling high-resolution microsensors. He is a member of Bio-X. Kenny is a founder of Cooligy, Inc., a microfluidics chip cooling components manufacturer, and serves on the Board of Directors of SiTime Corporation (2004 - Present). He received the BS degree in physics from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and the MS and PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a fellow of ASME.
Scott Calvert, Senior Associate Dean, Administration
Scott Calvert is responsible for school operations including finance, HR, IT, facilities and research administration. He held a similar position at Stanford in the office of the vice provost for undergraduate education prior to joining the engineering team. Before coming to Stanford, Scott was a Navy fighter pilot for 21 years after receiving a commission through the NROTC program at Duke University, where he earned a BSE in mechanical engineering. He made numerous deployments aboard aircraft carriers flying F-14s and F/A-18s, and between squadron assignments he attended U.S. Navy Test Pilot School on a cooperative program with the Naval Postgraduate School, where he earned an MSAE in aeronautical engineering. In addition, he has an MBA from Columbia University.
Chairs/Directors
Charbel Farhat, Chair, Aeronautics and Astronautics
Department: Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mechanical Engineering
Charbel Farhat is the Vivian Church Hoff Professor of Aircraft Structures and Director of the Army High Performance Computing Research Center. His research interests are in computational sciences for the design and analysis of complex systems in aerospace, mechanical, and naval engineering. He is designated as an ISI Highly Cited Author by the ISI Web of Knowledge. He was knighted by the Prime Minister of France in the Order of Academic Palms and awarded the Medal of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques. He has received many other academic distinctions including the Lifetime Achievement Award from ASME, the Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Award from AIAA, the John von Neumann Medal from USACM, the Gordon Bell Prize and Sidney Fernbach Award from IEEE, the IACM Award from IACM, and the Modeling and Simulation Award from DoD. He is a Fellow of AIAA, ASME, IACM, SIAM, and USACM.
Jennifer Cochran, Chair, Bioengineering
Department: Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering by courtesy
Jennifer Cochran is the Shriram Chair of the Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University. She is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering and, by courtesy, Chemical Engineering and a member of the Cancer Biology and Biophysics graduate programs. Dr. Cochran also serves as the Director of the Stanford/NIH Biotechnology pre-doctoral training program. Her research focuses on protein-based drug discovery and development for applications in oncology and regenerative medicine, and development of new technology for high-throughput protein analysis and engineering. Dr. Cochran obtained her Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the MIT, where she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Biological Engineering. While on leave from Stanford from 2015-2017, she served in the role of Chief Scientific Officer at Lagunita Biosciences, a healthcare investment company and incubator. During this time, she co-founded several companies and served in various executive roles in these organizations. Dr. Cochran has received the Howard Temin Award for Cancer Research, the Mallinckrodt Faculty Scholar Award, a Sidney Kimmel Scholar Award, Hellman Faculty Scholar Award, and Abeloff Scholar Award from the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Zhenan Bao, Chair, Chemical Engineering
Department: Chemical Engineering
Zhenan Bao joined Stanford University in 2004. She is currently the K.K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering with courtesy appointments in Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Inventors. She founded the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR) and is the faculty director. She is also an affiliated faculty member of Precourt Institute, Woods Institute, ChEM-H and Bio-X. Bao received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from The University of Chicago in 1995.
Sarah Billington, Chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Sarah Billington is the chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Billington is also a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. The recipient of numerous awards, her past research focused on sustainable, durable composites for built infrastructure, and her current research focuses on the impact of building materials and design interventions on human wellbeing. Billington received her PhD at the University of Texas-Austin in 1997 and arrived at Stanford in 2003 after spending five years on the faculty at Cornell. From 2009-15, she served as associate chair of the department, and in 2012 she was named the Milligan Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education.
John Mitchell, Chair, Computer Science
Department: Computer Science
John Mitchell is the chair of the Computer Science Department and the Mary and Gordon Crary Family Professor in the School of Engineering, and, by courtesy, a Professor of Electrical Engineering and of Education. John’s research has focused broadly on computer, web, and network security. John is also a pioneer in online learning. In 2009, he and six undergraduates built Stanford CourseWare, a platform that served as the foundation for Stanford’s initial flipped classroom experiments and helped inspire the university’s first massive open online courses (MOOCs) in 2011. In 2012, John was appointed as the university’s first Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning. John will remain engaged with VPTL as a special adviser to the provost for digital strategy.
Jelena Vuckovic, Chair, Electrical Engineering
Department: Electrical Engineering
Jelena Vuckovic is the chair of Electrical Engineering. Vuckovic, a professor of Electrical Engineering and by courtesy of Applied Physics, is the Jensen Huang Professor in Global Leadership at the School of Engineering. She is also a faculty member of the Ginzton Lab, PULSE Institute, SIMES Institute, Wu-Tsai Neuroscience Institute, and Bio-X. Since December 2018 she has served as the inaugural director of Q-FARM (Quantum Fundamentals, ARchitecture, and Machines), an interdisciplinary initiative across Stanford and SLAC focused on quantum research. Vuckovic graduated from the University of Nis in Serbia, received her graduate degrees at Caltech, then arrived at Stanford in 2002 as a postdoctoral scholar in Applied Physics followed soon after by a faculty appointment in the Electrical Engineering department.
Pamela Hinds, Chair, Management Science and Engineering
Department: Management Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering
Pamela Hinds is chair of the department of Management Science and Engineering, professor of Management Science and Engineering and co-director of the Center on Work, Technology, and Organization. She studies the effect of technology on teams and collaboration. Hinds has conducted extensive research on the dynamics of cross-boundary work teams, particularly those spanning national borders. Hinds also has a body of research on human-robot interaction in the work environment and the dynamics of human-robot teams. She is a senior editor of Organization Science and is co-editor with Sara Kiesler of the book Distributed Work (MIT Press). Hinds received her PhD in organizational science and management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Alberto Salleo, Chair, Materials Science and Engineering
Department: Materials Science and Engineering
Alberto Salleo is Chair of the Materials Science and Engineering department, a professor of Materials Science and Engineering, an affiliate of Precourt Institute for Energy and a member of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Salleo’s current research focuses on fundamental structural and electronic characterization of semiconducting polymers and nano-materials and their application in (bio)electronic and electrochemical devices such as sensors and artificial synapses. In 2016, Salleo was recognized with the Walter J. Gores Award, Stanford’s highest award for excellence in teaching.
Ellen Kuhl, Chair, Mechanical Engineering
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Ellen Kuhl is the Robert Bosch chair of the Mechanical Engineering department at Stanford. She received her PhD from the University of Stuttgart in 2000 and her Habilitation from the University of Kaiserslautern in 2004. Her area of expertise is living matter physics, the design of theoretical and computational models to predict the acute and chronic behavior of living structures. Kuhl is the current chair of the U.S. National Committee on Biomechanics and an executive member of the U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and of the American Institute for Mechanical and Biological Engineering.
Gianluca Iaccarino, Director, ICME
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Gianluca Iaccarino is director of the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering. He also is a Mechanical Engineering professor, Bio-X member and is an affiliate of the Precourt Institute for Energy and of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. He received his PhD in Computational Mechanics at the Polytechnic University of Bari, in Italy, and joined Stanford’s Mechanical Engineering faculty in 2007.