SYRACUSE — Syracuse University (SU) has reappointed J. Cole Smith to a five-year term as dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS). The announcement follows a review process that included feedback from key stakeholders, including ECS faculty, staff, and advisory-board members. “In Cole’s nearly five years as dean, the College of Engineering […]
SYRACUSE — Syracuse University (SU) has reappointed J. Cole Smith to a five-year term as dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS).
The announcement follows a review process that included feedback from key stakeholders, including ECS faculty, staff, and advisory-board members.
“In Cole’s nearly five years as dean, the College of Engineering and Computer Science has grown stronger on multiple counts and made great strides towards reaching a new level of excellence,” Gretchen Ritter, vice chancellor, provost, and chief academic officer, said in the school’s June 10 announcement. “This is an exciting time for the college, and I can think of no better leader to shepherd the students, faculty, staff and alumni into this new era.”
Smith assumed leadership of ECS in October 2019, and since that time, ECS has had “several high points,” SU said. It underwent a big renovation, which included multiple new lab spaces and the Allyn Innovation Center and served to modernize ECS buildings and facilities.
The pending new Campos Student Center, supported by a recent $2 million donation that Smith helped secure, will further enhance the college’s physical space.
Smith also oversaw the development of the new Syracuse University Center for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, which brings together expertise in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, manufacturing processes, optimization and robotics to advance the science of semiconductor manufacturing.
He also helped launch a new master’s-degree program in operations research and system analytics, as well as the signature co-op program, SU said.
Under Smith’s leadership, ECS research expenditures grew 30 percent during the 2022-2023 academic year over 2019 levels. Enrollment, faculty size, and staff size are also on track to grow 50 percent in the next four years as part of a plan Smith developed.
He also helped guide the college toward bronze-level status in the American Society for Engineering Education’s Diversity Recognition Program, SU noted.
“Engineering and Computer Science is driving regional, national and international growth in areas such as advanced manufacturing, sustainable infrastructure, healthcare engineering, advanced computing technologies and materials science,” Smith said in the SU announcement. “I have never been a part of a more exciting moment at the nexus of college, University, city and national growth. What we are doing here matters and will resonate for decades to come, and it is a true privilege to have the opportunity to realize the transformational opportunity that awaits Syracuse University and the College of Engineering and Computer Science.”
Smith came to Syracuse from Clemson University, where he held positions as associate provost for academic initiatives and chair of the department of industrial engineering. His research focuses on integer programming and combinatorial optimization; network flows and facility location; computational optimization methods and large-scale optimization due to uncertainty or robustness considerations.
In 2023, he was named an Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) fellow, SU said.
