Prof. Kenneth Vecchio named Chair of NanoEngineering

I am pleased to announce that Professor Ken Vecchio has been named Chair of the newly established Department of NanoEngineering at the Jacobs School. In this role as chair, Ken will lead the development of an innovative first-of-its-kind educational program that will develop in phases and serve 400 undergraduate and 120 graduate students when it reaches steady state. Ten Jacobs School faculty members have joined Ken in this multidisciplinary research and educational approach to engineering that will seek to capitalize on the potential of a new generation of multi-functional nanoscale devices and special materials built on the nanoscale.

Ken received his Ph.D. in materials science in 1988 from Lehigh University and joined the UCSD faculty later that year. He served as Director of the Electron Microscopy Facility in the Jacobs School for 10 years, and for the past three years has focused on nanomaterials, carbon nanotube synthesis, nanoparticles-reinforced polymers and composites and other areas of nanomaterials development. Ken and a team of four other Jacobs School professors formed a leadership team that created the new department.

Please join me in congratulating Ken on his new position.

I also hope that you can join Chancellor Fox, Ken and the NanoEngineering Department faculty, and me at a special reception 3:30 – 5:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 25, in the Fung Auditorium to celebrate the new department. RSVP: erevents@ucsd.edu.