From the Dean

It is an exciting time to be a part of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences! We have experienced unprecedented growth in recent years in almost all areas, making it hard to keep up the pace! Our tenure-track faculty has grown to over 250, and we are graduating our largest class ever, with over 2,300 students starting their professional journey with BS, MS and PhD degrees this May. Our research portfolio has also grown, and now totals over $72 million in expenditures.

The impacts of these successes are seen in many ways. It is reflected in our most recent U.S. News and World Report ranking, where we are now ranked second on the list of top public engineering schools in the northeast. Nine of our newest faculty were awarded prestigious CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and six of our top students received competitive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships – both setting school records.

Our entire school has responded and adapted quickly to the challenges brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. I am very proud of our faculty, staff, and students who showed incredible creativity and resilience as we shifted the semester to distance learning. We are currently developing innovative strategies for our scholarship, our research, our education, and our student experiences for the upcoming academic year.

In addition, there is great passion and a sense of urgency among the faculty, staff, students and alumni, many of whom are involved in leveraging their engineering and computer science expertise, capabilities, and community connections in the fight to end the COVID-19 crisis.

As. part of the Boldly Buffalo Campaign for UB, we are excited to be envisioning and planning for a new building that will provide a stimulating and collaborative learning environment for all of our undergraduate students. I am looking forward to working with our SEAS community and university partners to expand our influence through our new spaces on the next generation of SEAS students. I hope you will help us to make this a reality!

Kemper Lewis, PhD, MBA
Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences