August 4, 2022

Dean James R. Martin, the U.S. Steel Dean of the Swanson School of Engineering, has shared with me his decision to accept a new role as Vice Chancellor for STEM Research and Innovation in the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research. In his new role, Dr. Martin will work to help integrate our STEM programs and leverage their collaborative potential and build pipelines to further diversify the student body and faculty in STEM. Senior Vice Chancellor Rutenbar and I are grateful for his willingness to take on this important task.

Under Dr. Martins leadership, the Swanson School has advanced several strategic areas, including research funding, PhD enrollments, faculty and student diversity, and government and industry partnerships. Research expenditures within the school increased by over 33% and PhD students enrollments by over 20%, thanks to an added focus on larger, multidisciplinary proposals and restructuring of the business, finance, and research offices. Undergraduate diversity consistently increased for underrepresented minorities, with first year female cohorts nearing 40 percent and first-generation students increasing from 5 to 15 percent. I thank Dr. Martin for his contributions to the School and look forward to working with him in his new role.

I am grateful that Dr. Sanjeev Shroff, Distinguished Professor of and the Gerald E. McGinnis Chair in Bioengineering and the Chair of the Department of Bioengineering, has agreed to serve as Interim Dean of the school effective immediately. Sanjeev came to Pitt from the University of Chicago in 2000 and is deeply respected by his colleagues at Pitt and in the broader community, as well as by his peers in the field of bioengineering.

Sanjeev is a distinguished scholar in cardiovascular physiology and engineering, with special emphasis on cardiac mechano-energetics and cardiovascular structure-function relationships under normal and pathological conditions. His research has been supported by grants from the American Heart Association, National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. He is also an elected Fellow of the American Physiological Society, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering.

I believe the combination of Sanjeevs leadership experience, dedication to and knowledge of Pitt and of the Swanson School, and professional expertise makes him the ideal choice for this interim role.

My sincere thanks to you for your continued dedication to the school and to the University of Pittsburgh.

Best,

Ann E. CuddProvost and Senior Vice Chancellor

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