Three Women Are Among the Four Finalists for Dean of the School of Engineering at the University of New Mexico

The University of New Mexico has announced a field of four finalists to become the Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing at the School of Engineering. All four candidates will visit campus in the coming weeks for interviews and public forums. Three of the four finalists are women.

Donna Riley is a professor in the School of Engineering Education and professor by courtesy in environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Dr. Riley joined Purdue in 2017 from Virginia Tech, where she was a professor and interim head in the department of engineering education. From 2013-2015, she served as program director for engineering education at the National Science Foundation. Dr. Riley is a graduate of Princeton University in New Jersey, where she majored in chemical engineering. She holds a Ph.D. in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Anne Skaja Robinson became the head of the department of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in 2018. She was named a Trustee Professor of Chemical Engineering in 2019. Prior to her current appointment, she served as chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering and was the Boh Professor of Engineering at Tulane University in New Orleans. Dr. Robinson holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois.

Iris Rivero is the Kate Gleason Professor and head of the department of industrial and systems engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. She also directs iMED (Interdisciplinary Manufacturing Engineering and Design) laboratory. Earlier, she was a member of faculty of the department of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering at Iowa State University. Professor Rivero holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a Ph.D. all in industrial and manufacturing engineering and all from the Pennsylvania State University.