Dean of College of Engineering Dr. S. David Wu Named Next Provost for George Mason University

Dr. S. David Wu, dean of the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science at Lehigh University, has been appointed the next provost and executive vice president of George Mason University. His appointment becomes effective July 1, 2014.

Wu will succeed Peter N. Stearns, who has served as Mason’s provost since 2000.

“I am thrilled and excited to start the next phase of my career at George Mason,” said Wu. “But I will miss Lehigh dearly. After almost three decades here, I owe my sincere gratitude to my mentors, colleagues, and friends with whom I worked side by side to build something truly special and distinctive. The support from President Gast and Provost Farrell has been remarkable. I am proud to say that, together, we made real impact on the lives of young people and their places in this world.

I want to congratulate David on being named Provost at George Mason University,” said Patrick Farrell, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “He has been a major contributor to Lehigh as a faculty member and as a Dean for over 25 years. I'm sure he will take some of Lehigh with him to his new position. We wish him all the best in his new responsibilities.

Wu, who holds the Lee A. Iacocca endowed chair at Lehigh University, was appointed dean of the Engineering College in 2004. A well-known scholar in operations research, he specializes in optimization, game theory and statistical analysis and has received significant support for his research from the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and Sandia National Laboratories.

“Dr. Wu is a leader who understands what it takes to build a great university in today’s competitive marketplace,” says Ángel Cabrera, Mason president. “His values and background are a perfect fit for an innovative and inclusive university like Mason with a strategic commitment to growing our research portfolio, facilitating access to a diverse student body and providing a transformational learning experience to our students.”

In a 27-year career at Lehigh, Wu devoted significant effort toward the creation of multidisciplinary programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He led the efforts to create Lehigh's undergraduate program in Integrated Business and Engineering (IBE) and the Integrated degree in Engineering, Arts and Sciences (IDEAS), and played a key role in the creation of the university-wide Global Citizenship program. At the graduate level, he led the partnership between engineering, finance and mathematics that led to the development of the master's degree program in analytical finance. He was co-founder of the Center for Value Chain Research, a joint initiative of Lehigh's business and engineering colleges.

Wu’s work in the high-tech industry has been widely recognized and cited, including Best Paper Awards, finalist status in the 2009 Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice and extensive media coverage. His work has been tested and implemented at firms such as Intel, Infineon, Freescale, Lucent, HP and IBM. A fellow of IIE, Wu has published more than 100 scholarly papers and served as editor or editorial board member on many journals in his field. He also served on various national and international panels, such as NSF, the Science Foundation of Ireland and the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong. He currently serves on the board of overseers for Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering, and the advisory board for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.