Kemper Lewis elected to ASEE Engineering Deans Council Executive Board

By Elizabeth Egan 

According to the ASEE, the EDC serves as the leadership organization for deans of engineering schools in the United States and includes approximately 350 members who represent engineering and other affiliate colleges.

The Executive Board, which includes the chair, vice-chair and seven directors, is responsible for guiding the functions and activities of the council, formulating policies, authorizing official publications and preparing yearly budgets. Lewis’s two-year term will be effective on June 26.

Prior to joining the Executive Board, Lewis served as co-chair of the ASEE 2024 Engineering Deans Institute. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and has served on the National Academies Panel on Benchmarking the Research Competitiveness of the United States in Mechanical Engineering.

Lewis is a global leader in engineering design, system optimization and advanced manufacturing. His recent awards include the 2019 ASME Donald N. Zwiep Innovation in Education Award, the 2017 ASME Design Automation Award, and UB’s Exceptional Scholar Award for Sustained Achievement in 2017. He has published over 200 refereed journal articles and conference proceedings and has been a principal or co-principal investigator on grants totaling over $33 million.

Before being named dean in 2020, Lewis served as the chair of UB’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, where he was the Moog Professor of Innovation. He is also the director of UB’s Community of Excellence in Sustainable Manufacturing and Advanced Robotic Technologies (SMART), a university-wide initiative to develop advanced manufacturing and design processes, including autonomy, intelligence and materials technologies.

In 1996, Lewis joined UB after earning his PhD and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology,  and his bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and mathematics from Duke University. He also holds a master’s degree in business administration from UB.