“Grace” Jinliu Wang, a materials scientist, has been selected as the seventeenth president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Dr. Wang will assume the presidency on April 3, 2023.
“WPI’s founding principles of theory and practice resonate strongly with me,” Dr. Wang said. “WPI is a world-class institution with a unique and vital approach to teaching, learning, and discovery. Preparing STEM-focused professionals to see the world through technological, human, societal, and cultural lenses is distinctive, especially when so brilliantly coupled with WPI’s research and innovation ecosystem.
“Having consistently immersed itself in addressing the world’s grand challenges, the WPI community is already making a positive difference. I look forward to listening and learning from the great minds who make WPI what it is and whose voices will play an essential role in defining our way forward. To lead this amazing university, one I have always held in high esteem, is an honor and privilege.”
Worcester Polytechnic Institute enrolls just over 5,000 undergraduate students and more than 2,000 graduate students, according to the latest statistics available from the U.S. Department of Education. Women make up just 40 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Dr. Wang has been serving as executive vice president for research, innovation, and knowledge enterprise at Ohio State University. Earlier she was senior vice chancellor for research and economic development for the State University of New York System and interim president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
Dr. Wang earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in polymer materials from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology in China. She received a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.