Reginald DesRoches was named the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering at the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University in July 2017. From 2012 to 2017, he served as the Karen and John Huff Chair at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In December 2019, DesRoches was named provost of Rice, effective July 1, 2020. In that role, he will support the university’s academic, research, scholarly and creative activities.
At Rice University, DesRoches administers an engineering school with nine departments, more than 132 faculty, and 2,500 students. His research interests include the design of resilient infrastructure systems under extreme loads and the application of smart and auto-adaptive materials. He has published some 300 articles and delivered more than 100 presentations in 30 countries. A fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the society’s Structural Engineering Institute, DesRoches served as the key technical leader in the response of the United States to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, taking a team of 28 engineers, architects, city planners and social scientists to study the impact of the earthquake. He has participated in numerous congressional briefings to underscore the role university research plays in addressing the failing infrastructure in the U.S.and enhancing its resilience to natural hazards. DesRoches has served as thesis adviser to 30 doctoral candidates and 17 master’s students. DesRoches serves on the National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee and previously served on the National Academies Resilient America Roundtable, the Board on Army Science and Technology, the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Advisory Committee and the Global Earthquake Modeling Scientific Board. He previously chaired the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Seismic Effects Committee as well as the executive committee of the Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering. DesRoches has testified before U.S. House and Senate subcommittees on earthquake resilience and on the state of the science, and has participated in Washington, D.C. roundtables for media and congressional staffers on topics ranging from disaster preparedness to challenges for African-American men in STEM fields. National media outlets frequently contact him for expert analysis following earthquake events, including CNN, CNN International, LiveScience and National Geographic. DesRoches received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2002 — the highest honor bestowed upon scientists and engineers early in their careers. He was a recipient of the 2015 ASCE Charles Martin Duke Lifeline Earthquake Engineering Award, the Georgia Tech Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Adviser Award, the 2007 ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, and the Georgia Tech ANAK Award, the highest honor the undergraduate student body can bestow on a Georgia Tech faculty member.
In his tenure as Karen and John Huff School Chair at Georgia Tech, DesRoches guided the development of a new minor in global engineering leadership open to all Georgia Tech engineering undergraduates, doubled the number of named chairs/professors, led a strategic interdisciplinary research initiative, developed a Corporate Affiliates Program, and led a comprehensive strategic planning process. He also oversaw a $13.5 million renovation of the ’s main facility, the Jesse W. Mason Building. In 2014, he became Georgia Tech’s Faculty Athletics Representative, serving as the liaison between the Institute and the Athletics Association. As Faculty Athletics Representative, he worked closely with the Athletic Director and university leadership — including the president, provost, and senior vice provost for academic affairs — to formulate policies affecting intercollegiate athletics on campus. His responsibilities also include representing the Institute to the Atlantic Coast Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. He was appointed to the ACC leadership team as vice president of the conference for 2016-2017.
Notable awards and honors
2020 National Academy of Engineering "for research and design of resilient infrastructure systems to mitigate damage from natural disasters and other extreme conditions"
