Thayer School Appoints New Dean

Dartmouth has announced that Alexis Abramson will be dean of Thayer School of Engineering, starting on June 17. She is coming to Dartmouth from Case Western Reserve University, where she is currently the Milton and Tamar Maltz Professor of Energy Innovation and co-director of the Great Lakes Energy Institute, which works to drive innovation in energy sustainability. She will take over from Laura Ray, a professor of Engineering who has been interim dean of Thayer since former dean Joseph Helble’s appointment to Provost in the fall.  

Abramson will be leading Thayer as the school undergoes major expansion. Construction began on a new $200 million building shared by Thayer, the Department of Computer Science, and The Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship in December, and plans are in place to build for the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society. The expansion will allow Thayer to double the size of its faculty.  

From 2011-13, Abramson worked in the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office as Chief Scientist and Manager of the Emerging Technologies Team, where she oversaw research, development, and commercialization of energy-efficient and cost-effective building technologies. 

Abramson received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Tufts University and completed her PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.  

A twelve-person search committee chaired by Eris Fossum, the John H. Krehbiel Sr. Professor for Emerging Technologies, selected Abramson. In addition to Fossum, the committee was comprised of other Dartmouth professors, administrators, and alumni. The search firm Isaacson Miller also aided the committee in their search.