Enrique J. Lavernia, chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of California, Irvine, has been appointed dean of the College of Engineering at UC Davis.

Lavernia, 41, will assume his new post Sept. 1, pending approval by the UC Board of Regents.

"We are quite fortunate to have attracted Professor Lavernia to this post," said UC Davis Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef. "His experience as a department chair at UC Irvine has helped prepare him to be dean, along with his exceptional research record and his broad perspective on engineering. He has demonstrated a high level of energy and experience in working effectively with a wide range of constituencies; that, too, will be of great benefit to our College of Engineering and to the broader campus. Finally, his instincts are right for UC Davis -- the pursuit of excellence comes very naturally to him."

As dean, Lavernia will be the chief academic and administrative officer of the engineering college, which comprises eight departments with more than 160 faculty. Founded in 1962, the college has approximately 2,800 undergraduate majors and 750 graduate students and generates annual research funding of about $30 million.

"I am pleased and honored to have the opportunity to come to UC Davis as dean of the College of Engineering at such an exciting and dynamic time for science and technology," Lavernia said. "Engineers in higher education must respond to rapid developments in science and shifts in society in order to be successful. UC Davis' College of Engineering, by virtue of its rich interdisciplinary tradition, the excellence of its faculty and students and the presence of a committed staff, is well positioned to excel under such changing conditions."

Lavernia holds a master's degree and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor's degree from Brown University. He joined the faculty of UC Irvine in 1987, becoming department chair in 1998.

Lavernia's research interests are in processing and synthesis of structural materials and composites, or mixtures of materials with unique properties. He has developed a new manufacturing technique called spray rolling to produce aluminum products. He is also studying ways to make alloys and composites made up of extremely small particles measured in nanometers, or billionths of a meter. These "nanomaterials" can have unusual properties, such as extreme hardness or thermal stability.

He has published more than 270 scientific papers as well as conference proceedings, invited papers, book chapters and other publications. He is co-author of a textbook on "Spray Atomization and Deposition," and has edited a number of other books on metals and materials science.

Among many other awards and honors, Lavernia was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2000, and was selected as Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Materials Science "Science Teacher of the Year" at UC Irvine in 1998. He has held prestigious fellowships from the Ford Foundation; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Iketani Science and Technology Foundation of Tokyo, Japan; and from Rockwell International. He was named a Presidential Young Investigator by the National Science Foundation and received a Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research.

He is a member of many professional organizations, actively participates in organizing national and international conferences, serves on various boards of review and advisory panels, has six patents and pending applications, and he and his students have received numerous scholastic awards.

Lavernia has held grants from agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Department of Energy, NASA and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

He succeeds Zuhair Munir, who has served as dean since Alan Laub stepped down in October 2000.

Editor's Note: A digitized photo is available from Andy Fell, ahfell@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-4533.