Maria Klawe, computer scientist, to become engineering dean

Maria Klawe, a computer scientist and dean of science at the University of British Columbia, has been named dean of Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science , effective Jan. 1. She also will be appointed a professor in Princeton's Department of Computer Science.

Klawe succeeds James Wei, who, as previously announced, will step down June 30 to return to full-time teaching and research after 11 years in the post. James Sturm, a professor of electrical engineering and director of the Center for Photonics and Opto-Electronic Materials, will serve as interim dean through December.

"As dean of science at the University of British Columbia, Maria Klawe has shown a remarkable effectiveness in helping talented people from diverse disciplines work together to achieve results far greater than anything they expected to produce on their own," said Princeton President Shirley M. Tilghman. "She comes to an engineering school that already has had many such achievements under the excellent leadership of Jim Wei. I look forward to working with Maria as she builds on this foundation and leads the school in meeting new challenges in the coming years."

Klawe has been a leader in both academia and industry. After receiving her bachelor's and doctoral degrees in mathematics from the University of Alberta, Klawe held faculty positions in mathematics and computer science at Oakland University in Michigan and the University of Toronto in Canada. She then joined the IBM Almaden Research Center in California, where she founded and managed the Discrete Mathematics Group and served as manager of the Department of Mathematics and Related Computer Science.

After eight years at IBM, she returned to academia in 1988 to become the head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. She was appointed vice president for student and academic services in 1995 and dean of science in 1998. Klawe also is the incoming president of the Association for Computing Machinery, the international association of computer professionals.

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Contact: Marilyn Marks (609) 258-3601