UC Merced adds new engineering dean

UC Merced named a new dean of the school of engineering who will take over Sept. 1, the university announced Monday.

Mark Matsumoto is associate dean for research and graduate education at Bourns College of Engineering at UC Riverside, where he also serves as a professor in the department of chemical and environmental engineering.

During his 21-year tenure at UC Riverside, Matsumoto has also held the positions of interim dean in the engineering college, associate dean for undergraduate academic affairs, chair of the department of mechanical engineering, and chair of the department of chemical and environmental engineering.

Matsumoto will replace Erik Rolland, a professor of management, who has served as interim dean since the departure last summer of Dan Hirleman.

Matsumoto served as a member of the committee that planned UC Merced during its formative years, from 2000 to 2003, assisting in the selection of academic majors, the creation of an academic administrative structure and the hiring of senior administrative leadership. In 2010, he served for six months as UC Merced’s interim dean of the school of engineering.

He is a member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society for Engineering Education, and he is the recipient of several honors and awards for teaching excellence.

Matsumoto holds both doctorate and master’s degrees in civil engineering from UC Davis, and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UC Irvine.

Before joining UC Riverside in 1994, he taught for 11 years at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he established and directed the university’s environmental science program.

This story was originally published July 20, 2015 at 3:38 PM with the headline "UC Merced adds new engineering dean."