June 14, 1996

Masnari Appointed New Dean of Engineering

Dr. Nino A. Masnari has been appointed dean of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University.

Announcement of the appointment was made by Chancellor Larry K. Monteith after approval by the NC State Board of Trustees and the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.

Masnari is a professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Electronics and Materials Processing (AEMP) at NC State. He succeeds Interim Dean John G. Gilligan, who has served in the position since the resignation of Dean Ralph K. Cavin III in December 1995. Masnari's appointment follows a six-month targeted search.

With more than 5,000 undergraduates, the College of Engineering is the largest of NC State's colleges and among the largest undergraduate engineering programs in the country. The college has almost 1,300 graduate students.

"The College of Engineering is committed to providing its undergraduates with an educational experience that will prepare them for successful careers in engineering," Masnari said. "Likewise, the graduate programs and research activities must become competitive with the best in the nation as well as contribute to the economic development of North Carolina."

Masnari served as head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NC State from 1979 until 1988, when he accepted the directorship of AEMP and of the SEMATECH Center of Excellence on Advanced Single-Wafer Processing.

During his tenure as head of electrical and computer engineering, Masnari guided the department through a period of considerable growth. Undergraduate enrollment and bachelor's degrees conferred increased by nearly 300 percent, the graduate program grew by 500 percent, and research activities increased tenfold.

As director of AEMP, one of several National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers nationally, he oversees a program to develop in situ , low thermal budget, single-wafer processing. Approximately 25 faculty members, 90 graduate students, 50 undergraduates and 15 postdoctoral researchers work with the center, which has its main office on NC State's Centennial Campus. Researchers at North Carolina A&T State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte and Duke University, as well as MCNC are also involved with the center.

A native of Three Rivers, Mich., Masnari earned his bachelor's in 1958, master's in 1959 and doctorate in 1964, all in electrical engineering and all from the University of Michigan.

Masnari began his career as a lecturer at the University of Michigan in 1964 and later became a full professor and director of the Electron Physics Laboratory at that university. From 1967 to 1969, while on leave from the University of Michigan, he worked as an electronics engineer at the General Electric Research and Development Center in Schenectady, N.Y. He came to NC State as head of electrical and computer engineering in 1979.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., and a member of several honor societies including Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Xi.

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