ECE Chair Mark Tehranipoor selected as College of Engineering dean
The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering has a new dean, and he is a familiar face on the University of Florida campus.
Mark M. Tehranipoor, Ph.D., the current chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, or ECE, will start as dean on July 20.
“It is a great honor for me to serve as the next dean for the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering,” Tehranipoor said. “Our college has a proud tradition of excellence spanning more than a century, and I am excited to build on that strong foundation as we shape the next era of innovation, discovery and impact.”
Tehranipoor, the Intel Charles E. Young Preeminence Endowed Chair Professor in Cybersecurity and a UF Distinguished Professor, is a respected leader and globally recognized researcher who specializes in cyber/hardware security and trust, electronics supply chain security and Internet of Things (IoT) security.
As he did with ECE, Tehranipoor will work to bolster the college’s rankings, aiming to move the college to a Top 7 program within seven years, he said. Additionally, he plans to make the college a top entrepreneurship program and increase its global reputation.
“I want to foster a vibrant, collaborative, and engaged college community that is committed to excellence in everything we do,” he said. “Together, we will build on our existing strengths while strategically investing in transformative areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum science and engineering, space technologies, coastal resilience, advanced materials, nuclear engineering, and personalized medicine — positioning the college as a global leader in education, research, innovation, and societal impact.”
Tehranipoor brings years of experience, leadership and accolades to the dean’s suite.
He served as the founding director for the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research from 2015 to 2022, ECE’s associate chair for Research and Strategic Initiatives from 2017 to 2019, the college’s program director of cybersecurity from 2019 to 2022 and ECE chair from 2022-2026. He was also the director/co-director for eight centers of excellence, including the AFOSR/AFRL Center of Excellence on Enabling Cyber Defense in Analog and Mixed Signal Domain.
Currently the co-director for the National Microelectronic Security Training Center, he also is a fellow with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the International Academy of Artificial Intelligence Sciences (AAIS), the International Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance (AIAA) and the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL).
Tehranipoor is an in-demand keynote speaker who has published 20 books (two being textbooks) and has written 700 journal articles and peer-reviewed conference papers. He holds 26 patents with 27 pending invention disclosures.
He came to UF in 2015 from the University of Connecticut, where he was a faculty member for nine years. Before that, he was an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
He holds a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tehran and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Tehran Polytechnic University.