Ishwar Puri

Biography

Dr. Ishwar K. Puri is senior vice president of research and innovation and professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at University of Southern California with affiliate appointments as professor of chemical engineering and materials science and professor of biomedical engineering. As a leader of academic research and education, he oversees the USC Office of Research and Innovation that administers and guides the university’s research, commercialization and entreprenuership programs.

He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and holds the Engineering Medal for Engineering Excellence awarded by Professional Engineers Ontario and Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.

Dr. Puri is the author of over 200 archival publications and books that have been cited over 9,500 times per Google Scholar with an H-Index of 55. He has founded and mentored startups. He is ranked among the top 0.4% of 29 million scholars ranked in all fields in the world by ScholarGPS based on his productivity, impact and the quality of his work.

Prior to his appointment at University of Southern California, Dr. Puri was dean of the Faculty of Engineering and professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In Canada, he was one of eighteen members of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada He served as chair of the Canadian National Council of Deans of Engineering and Applied Science, now called Engineering Deans Canada.

Before that, he was N. Waldo Harrison professor of engineering science and mechanics (ESM) at Virginia Tech where he served as department head from 2004-13. He served as a postdoctoral fellow and Assistant Research Engineer at the University of California, San Diego from 1987-90. Thereafter, he was appointed as assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 1990, promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure in 1994, and to the rank of professor in 1999. He served at UIC as associate dean for research and graduate studies (2000-01) and as executive associate dean of engineering (2001-04).

Dr. Puri serves on the editorial board of Scientific Reports, a Nature Group journal, and is an associate editor of Research, a Science partner journal.