Professor Jennifer Ross has been named as interim dean for the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), effective November 1st 2025. She will step into the role after current ECS dean J. Cole Smith was appointed as the executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at Clemson University.
Ross is a professor of physics, member of the BioInspired Institute and currently serves as associate dean for creativity, scholarship and research in the College of Arts and Sciences. She previously served as the chair of the Department of Physics from 2020-24.
“I am excited to come and work with the engineering and computer science faculty and staff to support the students and keep the ECS machine stable in this time of flux. Engineers and computer scientists work hard to improve the world around them through their research and their teaching – values that I share. I have already been welcomed by several members of the faculty and staff, and I look forward to working together in our shared mission to make the world a better place.”
Ross is an award-winning biophysicist whose research focuses on cellular organization and next-generation bio-inspired materials. She has worked collaboratively with ECS faculty as part of the BioInspired Institute and is a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Cottrell Scholar, and winner of the Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award from the Biophysical Society.