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Kevin Pitts

Dean
  • Lay Nam Chang Dean's Chair
  • Professor of Physics
Pitts smiles outside with trees and stone buildings in background

Kevin Pitts, chief research officer at Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory and a professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named the Lay Nam Chang Dean’s Chair by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. Pitts was named as dean of the College of Science at Virginia Tech in February. His start date was June 13, 2022.

The Lay Nam Chang Dean’s Chair in the College of Science was endowed through a generous donation by the college’s Dean’s Roundtable, its longtime advisory board of alumni and friends that has helped guide the college since its founding in 2003. The college had been part of the College of Arts and Sciences before it was divided to become the College of Science and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences in 2003.

A distinguished researcher, scholar, and academic leader, Pitts has more than 25 years of experience in academic and research settings. While at Fermilab, he oversaw the laboratory’s science program and worked extensively on a number of particle accelerator-based projects, including the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. 

As a faculty member at University of Illinois, Pitts was co-author on more than 600 peer-reviewed articles published in top-tier physics journals with citations in excess of 56,000.  As an administrator, he served as vice provost for undergraduate education as well as associate dean for undergraduate programs in the College of Engineering and in the Department of Physics.

Pitts will also be a faculty member in the Department of Physics at Virginia Tech.

Pitts received a bachelor’s degree from Anderson University and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, the latter in 1994. 

 

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