A Korean-American woman engineer has been named the dean of a UCLA engineering school.
On June 20, UCLA announced in a press release that Alissa Park will become the dean of the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, effective September 1.
According to UCLA, Park is world-renowned for her research in carbon capture and conversion technology at Columbia University. She has been a professor at Columbia University since 2007, leading the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering and Climate Change Research. She also serves as the director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the same university.
Park has also worked on sustainable energy development projects at the United Nations.
“Under Alissa’s visionary leadership, UCLA Samueli will make even greater strides in advancing engineering education and research for the benefit of our society,” wrote Darnell Hunt, UCLA’s executive vice chancellor and provost, in a message to the campus.
“I am deeply humbled and also excited to serve as the next dean of engineering at UCLA, a world-class public university,” Park said. “It is an exciting and critical time for engineering and computer science as we focus on addressing many grand challenges and opportunities with tremendous social impact such as climate change, pandemics, and artificial intelligence.”
Park holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical and biological engineering from the University of British Columbia, as well as a doctorate in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Ohio State University. In 2021, she received Ohio State’s distinguished alumni award for academic excellence.
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM [support@koreadaily.com]
