New CoE Leadership Roles Assumed
His current research and teaching interests are in the areas of optical communications, photonics, and intelligent transportation systems. He has been awarded seven U.S. patents, has authored/co-authored numerous journal and conference publications, and has been principal/co-principal investigator on over $11 million in sponsored research grants and contracts.
In his new role as senior associate dean, he will focus on career development of faculty including the full scope of teaching, research and service, as prescribed by our newly adopted PP03 policies and procedures. He will lead the research administration in the College of Engineering and will direct the Engineering graduate program. Learn more.
John Antonio, became the associate dean for academic affairs in January.
Antonio was a faculty member at Purdue University and Texas Tech before joining OU as professor and director of computer science in 1999. During seven years of service as the director of the School of Computer Science, he oversaw a 50% growth in the number of computer science faculty members and a tripling of the school’s research expenditures. Antonio has been an investigator for a number of funded research projects. Defense agencies supporting this work include Rome Laboratory (Air Force Research Laboratory), NRaD (Navy Research and Development), DoD/STTR, and DARPA. This body of work included a major project funded by DARPA for the design and development of an ultra-low power parallel computing platform, housed on a small unmanned aerial vehicle, for real-time synthetic aperture radar processing. During the period from 2008 to 2011, Antonio received grants from RiskMetrics Group, Inc. This work included research and development of scheduling and control mechanisms for a massively distributed computing platform. From 2011 to 2013, he worked for MSCI, Inc. where he led a global team chartered with optimizing the performance and stability of the company’s massively parallel production computing platform.
As the associate dean for academic affairs, Antonio represents the Dean’s office on matters related to academic programs and services, including outreach, recruiting, scholarships, advising, diversity and inclusion programs, and accreditation. He also provides leadership in identifying and developing opportunities for students to grow through experiential learning, professional development, and leadership training; with the ultimate goal being to equip students with competitive advantages in pursuing future careers. Read more.
J. R. Cruz, Professor and Tilley Chair of Electrical Engineering, began serving as acting director for the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering effective July 1. Permanent designation as director is pending action at the September Regents’ meeting, retroactive to August 16.
Cruz is a nationally recognized educator and researcher, with extensive experience both in industry and academia. He started his career as an engineer and task leader at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and later became a member of the research staff of Motorola. He is a world-renowned expert in signal processing and coding for magnetic recording and is currently the principal investigator on a three-year NSF project to develop the next generation of two-dimensional magnetic recording technologies. Cruz is a Fellow of the IEEE "for contributions to communications signal processing and education," and Distinguished Lecturer of two IEEE societies: Communications and Vehicular Technology. He holds several patents and counts among his numerous scholarly publications the Best Paper Prize at the 2007 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).
Cruz assumes the leadership of ECE at an exciting time, building upon the outstanding leadership of Jim Sluss, who is assuming the role of senior associate dean for the College of Engineering. Sluss says of Cruz “I am delighted that J. R. Cruz has accepted the appointment as director of the School. He is held in very high regard by the ECE faculty and brings a wealth of experience to the position of director, having served on Committee A and as chair of the ECE Undergraduate Studies Committee. He also has substantial administrative experience through his service in various positions within the IEEE. I have the utmost confidence in him to lead the School to new heights of achievement.”
ECE growth in recent years, both in terms of scope and achievements, is justly reflected in rising prestige and national rank. Read more.
Jerry Holmes, Major General, U.S. Air Force (Retired) and CoE distinguished graduate, has been named the Faculty-in-Residence at the ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility, following the recent retirement of Professor John Fagan. General Holmes developed the course, “Leadership and Management for Engineers,” which his students describe as life-changing. The REPF is the home of the OU undergraduate engineering processes for product and professional realization. As Faculty-in-Residence, General Holmes will be uniquely positioned to mentor all of the leaders in our student organizations through the process of becoming professionals.
Brian Grady, Conoco/DuPont Professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and director of the Institute for Applied Surfactant Research, will assume the role of director of the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering on August 16. Grady's vision and energy to lead CBME will continue to build on an already strong record of achievement. Read more.
After 16 years of outstanding service, Lance Lobban will step down as the director of CBME. He will devote more time to teaching, research and service. He will continue to hold the Francis W. Winn Chair.
