Yannis C. Yortsos (NAE) is dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Zohrab Kaprielian Dean’s Chair in Engineering, and Chester Dolley Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. He previously chaired the Department of Chemical Engineering and was associate dean and then senior associate dean for academic affairs.

As dean of engineering, he articulated in 2008 the concept of Engineering+, positioning engineering as the enabling discipline of our times, and he has been actively engaged in the effort to “change the conversation about engineering.” With colleagues at Duke University and Olin College, he cofounded in 2009 the NAE Global Grand Challenges Scholars Program, now adopted by many universities in the US and overseas.

He serves on the executive committee of the Global Engineering Deans Council; as chair of the council’s Diversity Committee he spearheaded an engineering diversity initiative, adopted by more than 230 engineering deans nationwide. He was previously PI of ASEE’s Engineering Deans’ Gender Equity (EDGE) Initiative.

He serves on the NAE Council and is an honorary member of the AIME and elected associate member of the Academy of Athens, and in 2014 he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

He received a BS degree in chemical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and his MS and PhD from the California Institute of Technology, all in chemical engineering.