Gilda Barabino

Gilda Barabino was been named the president of Olin College of Engineering, effective July 1, 2020. Dr. Barabino was the dean of The Grove School of Engineering and the Daniel and Frances Berg Professor at The City College of New York. Dr. Barabino’s career is distinguished by her focus on interdisciplinary engineering scholarship, her record of research and academic accomplishments, and her leadership in higher education. As the college enters its third decade, Olin is poised to use the same spirit of innovation from which it was launched in order to identify and solve future challenges both in engineering education and in the global community. She has been dean of the engineering school at City College since 2013. Dr. Barabino doubled the retention rate in engineering; developed new masters’ programs in data science and engineering, cybersecurity, and translational medicine; enhanced the research footprint of the college; led university-wide efforts to enhance the representation and success of women and minority faculty; and provided greater STEM opportunities for underserved student communities. In addition to her role as an educator, Dr. Barabino has sought ways to influence the policies that shape the engineering profession. She is a renowned thought leader in the areas of STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) education and research, faculty development, workforce development, public policy, and diversity and inclusion. She is the founding and executive director of the National Institute for Faculty Equity, a research and development initiative that seeks to institutionalize the professional development and career success of women and minorities in STEM. She has been tapped by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to serve on a number of committees that examine and actively seek change around these subjects. Dr. Barabino is also a member of the Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering, a congressionally mandated advisory committee to the National Science Foundation, the NSF Engineering Advisory Committee and the AAAS Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy. Dr. Barabino is a well-known researcher in the fields of cellular and tissue engineering and sickle cell disease. Her seminal research in sickle cell biomechanics and adhesion provided the basis for current technologies and novel anti-adhesion therapies. Her research in biomechanics spans four decades of investigation into how cells and tissues respond to their mechanical environment and has important implications for the treatment of disease and regenerative medicine. She served on the National Institutes of Health’s congressionally appointed Sickle Cell Advisory Committee and is a participant in the Global Sickle Cell Disease Network. The appointment of Dr. Barabino as Olin’s next president is the latest step in a trailblazing career of firsts that began in 1981, when she was the first African American woman admitted to the graduate program in chemical engineering at Rice University. In 1986, she was the fifth African American female in the nation to obtain a doctorate in chemical engineering. She joined Northeastern University in 1989 and rose to the rank of full professor of chemical engineering and then vice provost for undergraduate education. She joined Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University as professor and associate chair for graduate studies in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. She served as the inaugural vice provost for academic diversity and is credited with establishing a legacy to strengthen diversity and inclusion at Georgia Tech.