Renowned teacher, researcher named dean of engineering

Award-winning researcher and teacher T. Kyle Vanderlick, Ph.D., has been appointed dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Thomas E. Golden Professor of Engineering at Yale, effective January 1. Vanderlick comes to Yale from Princeton University, where she was chair and professor of chemical engineering.

A leading expert on interfacial forces—interactions that occur near or between surfaces—Vanderlick conducts research that aims to measure, control and understand the properties of interfaces and thin films, especially those with relevance to materials science and biology. Her work has led to new and fundamental insights across a range of areas spanning from metallic adhesion in micro/nano-scale devices to the action of antimicrobial peptides on cell membranes.

In 2002 Vanderlick was awarded both the Princeton Engineering Council Teaching Award and the Princeton President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching. Vanderlick has B.S. and M.S. degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Vanderlick succeeds Paul A. Fleury, Ph.D., the Frederick W. Beinecke Professor of Engineering and Applied Physics, who has served as dean of engineering since 2000.