BRAVO KAVALIWTES !!!

USC names new dean for engineering college

USC

Michael Amiridis

Michael Amiridis, a professor and chairman of the University of South Carolina’s department of chemical engineering, will become dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology on July 16, USC announced today.

"I am delighted that Michael has accepted the search committee's offer, and, judging from his many university honors, I am convinced that his colleagues and students in the college share my enthusiasm for his leadership," USC President Andrew Sorensen said. "The college has a strong record of outstanding teaching and research. As the university assumes an increasing role in the economic development of the Midlands, I believe Michael will play a leadership role in heightening the visibility of engineering research and its economic potential without sacrificing the quality of teaching."

Amiridis joined USC's chemical engineering faculty in 1994 from W.R. Grace, where he was a research engineer in the corporate research center in Columbia, Md.

At USC, Amiridis has been a teacher, for which he has won numerous awards. And his research into nanostructured catalytic materials has brought in almost $10 million from federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.

A native of Kavala, a coastal town in northern Greece, Amiridis earned his doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his diploma from Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece, where he graduated first in his class in 1985.

He is a three-time recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award from Mortar Board and has received the Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award, the Michael J. Mungo Graduate Teaching Award, the Samuel Litman Distinguished Professor Award and the Research Achievement Award from the College of Engineering and Information Technology, the Golden Key Award for Integration of Undergraduate Teaching and Research and the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed journal publications and has served as editor of several international journals.

He succeeds Dr. Duncan Buell, who has served as interim dean since August 2005.

In January, USC selected four finalists for the job of dean for visits to the campus. In addition to Amiridis, they were:

Christine W. Curtis, a professor in the chemical engineering department at Auburn University; Seshu B. Desu, head of the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Massachusetts; and James F. Ely, head of the chemical engineering department at the Colorado School of Mines.

-- From staff reports