MYERSON NAMED PROVOST AT ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Dr. Allan S. Myerson has been named provost and senior vice president at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). IIT President Lew Collens announced Myerson’s appointment today, effective January 1, 2003. As the university’s chief academic officer, Myerson will have primary responsibility for the quality and administration of academic programs and faculty at all IIT campuses.
Myerson, 50, joined IIT in January 2000 as dean of Armour College of Engineering and Science, the largest academic unit at the university, serving as the chief administrative and academic officer for the departments of engineering, the sciences and liberal arts. He is also a professor of chemical engineering.
“Dr. Myerson possesses outstanding academic and administrative credentials,” Collens said. “At a time when IIT’s enrollment and curriculum is expanding, Allan’s dynamic leadership skills and research success will help propel us to new heights.”
In his tenure as Armour College dean, Myerson has been instrumental on several fronts, from developing a stronger program of technology transfer and invention commercialization to broadening the curriculum in IIT’s biomedical engineering and math and science education programs. He established new relationships for research, education and student recruitment at a variety of corporations including Kimberly Clark, Abbott Labs, Pfizer, The Chamberlain Group and Bristol Myers Squibb. Myerson is also credited with recruiting outstanding new department chairs in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science.
Myerson is an internationally recognized authority in the area of crystallization and has published five books, 125 papers and 20 patents on crystallization and related areas. His research focuses on the areas of nucleation, metastable solution structure and impurity crystal interactions. Myerson consults for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry worldwide. He is also an associate editor of Crystal Growth and Design, a journal published by the American Chemical Society.
“IIT is in a period of significant growth and provides great excitement and opportunity,” Myerson said. “Our future goals include expansion of our undergraduate, graduate and professional student body, improvement and expansion of our physical facilities and continuing and expanding our interprofessional themes in both education and research.”
Prior to joining IIT, Myerson served as dean of the School of Chemical and Materials Science at Polytechnic University, New York, N.Y., where he developed new interdisciplinary undergraduate degree programs, re-established a premedical education program and initiated on-site master’s education courses in chemistry at industrial sites.
A New York City native, Myerson has been awarded almost $8 million in research grants as principal or co-principal investigator. Funding sources have included the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and such proprietary organizations as Dupont, Exxon, Merck, the General Electric Foundation and Mitsubishi Chemical.
Myerson has also held academic appointments at Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Dayton. Myerson received his M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia. He earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Columbia University.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university awarding degrees in the sciences, mathematics and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the university’s 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.
