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BLACKSBURG, Va., April 7, 2011 – John J. "Jack" Lesko, professor of engineering science and mechanics in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, will assume the position of the college's associate dean for research and graduate studies effective May 25.

“Dr. Lesko will be focusing his efforts on enabling our faculty, students, and staff to collaborate more effectively and across disciplinary boundaries,” said Richard C. Benson, announcing the decision. “We also envision this position to facilitate more entrepreneurial activities. We are very pleased to attract Dr. Lesko to this position as he has a strong record of research and teaching success, as well as experience in private business. ”

Lesko is replacing Don Leo of mechanical engineering who served in this position for the past four years. During Leo’s tenure, the college had an increase of over 10 percent in research expenditures annually, allowing it to currently rank 10th among all colleges of engineering in research expenditures, according to the National Science Foundation.

In graduate studies, U.S. News and World Report’s most recent survey listed Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering as 24th in the country. The overall ranking has risen nine places since Leo’s start in 2007.

“As we look to the next five years, I believe it is critical to identify the practices and frameworks that will sustain this rich growth and development history,” Lesko said.

“My vision for the college research and graduate studies is the result of several elements, including my strong familiarity with the college, the university, my own interdisciplinary research, and graduate education administration experience. The college can boast growth and advancement in many metrics and rankings, even through hard economic times. This is in large part due to the current and prior leadership’s focused efforts,” Lesko said.

He also pointed to the establishment and expansion of Virginia Tech’s Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, the tremendous number of new and high quality hires of new faculty, and the addition of new facilities and infrastructure with more to come on line shortly as reasons for the college’s successes.

Lesko has served the university in a number of capacities prior to this appointment. He was a special assistant to the Office of the Vice President for Research on energy issues from June 2007 until June 2008. He has secured more than $14 million in research funding with $6.8 million as his individual share. He has served as the faculty chair for 20 master’s students and 13 doctoral candidates.

Lesko’s area of expertise in is the mechanics of polymers and composites. He was the co-interim director of the university’s Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute in 2004. Among his grants, he was a deputy director of a $3.3 million National Science Foundation grant on an Integrated Graduate Education and research training program on macromolecular science and infrastructure engineering.

Lesko is also the co-founder of PowerHub Systems, formerly VPT Energy Systems, located at Virginia Tech’s Corporate Research Center.

Lesko received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1987 from the University of Maryland at College Park, and his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in engineering mechanics in 1991 and in 1994, respectively, from Virginia Tech.

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