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Administration 512A
Liesl Folks
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Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
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Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
In her role as chief academic officer, Liesl Folks oversees 16 colleges, 24 schools, academic affairs, faculty affairs, libraries, IT services, global affairs and student services.
Before joining the university in July 2019, she was dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University at Buffalo. There she led rapid growth of the engineering school, adding 75 faculty members and 2,700 students and increasing research expenditures by 35%. She is a champion for women and underrepresented minorities in engineering and science.
Folks holds 14 U.S. patents and has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed papers. She serves on numerous boards and committees and is chair of the triennial congressionally mandated National Academies Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative.
Prior to her career in higher education, she spent 16 years in research and development at IBM Almaden Research Center, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Western Digital.
Degrees
- PhD: physics, University of Western Australia
- MBA: Cornell University
- BS: physics, University of Western Australia
Research Interests
Magnetic materials and devices, nanoscale metrology, and spin-electronic devices