Pines Named Next UMD President

USM Ends Search, Calling Clark School Dean ‘Precisely the Right Person’ for Role

By Maryland Today Staff 

The University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents yesterday appointed Darryll J. Pines, dean of the A. James Clark School of Engineering, as the 34th president of the University of Maryland, effective July 1.

Pines, who will succeed President Wallace D. Loh after a decade in the position, has spent 25 years on the College Park campus, serving as both dean and the Nariman Farvardin Professor of Aerospace Engineering since January 2009. He arrived in 1995 as an assistant professor and chaired the Department of Aerospace Engineering from 2006 to 2009.

His notable accomplishments as dean include improving teaching in fundamental undergraduate courses and raising student retention, achieving success in national and international student competitions, placing new emphasis on sustainability engineering and service-learning, promoting STEM education among high school students, increasing the impact of research programs and expanding philanthropic contributions to the school.

Board of Regents Chair Linda Gooden said Pines brings a “wealth of experience” to the role.

“He knows intimately the strengths of the faculty, the energy of the students and the circle of legislative and philanthropic support both in the state of Maryland and beyond,” she said. “I can’t think of a better person to build on the excellence at the university and take it to even higher levels. I know I speak for the entire board when I say we’ve found precisely the right person for this important job. College Park will indeed be in good hands.”

Pines called it an honor to accept the position of president at Maryland, a place he knows and loves.

“As professor and dean of engineering, I am well acquainted with and have long admired the outstanding faculty, the executive leadership, and the passionate and civically engaged alumni and students who make Maryland such a special place,” he said. “I’m excited by this new challenge and can’t wait to listen, learn and lead this incredible university.”

Chancellor Jay A. Perman, MD, said the selection of Pines should be well received across the system.

“This is the first major appointment since I became chancellor, and it’s something that I felt we had to get absolutely right—so I couldn’t be more pleased to see Darryll Pines appointed as the next president of the University of Maryland, College Park,” Perman said. “I’ve known Dr. Pines and his work for quite some time, and I believe he’s exactly the right kind of leader at exactly the right time for an institution of College Park’s prominent stature and incredible growth potential. I’m especially grateful that Darryll and I share a passion for ensuring that any Marylander who desires a higher education has the opportunity to receive one. We all expect great things, and I look forward to working with him in the months ahead. I know his colleague USM presidents will warmly welcome him to this new position.

“I should also express my deep gratitude to the entire presidential search committee for helping to make this important choice,” Perman said. “The committee worked diligently throughout the search process and made sure that a wide range of voices from the greater UMD community was heard.”

Pines will take leadership of the university after a decade of tremendous growth and advancement under Loh. Over the past 10 years, Maryland became the nation’s first “Do Good” campus, engaging the entire student body in doing good in their communities and around the world; rolled out the $2 billion public-private investment known as Greater College Park; joined the Big Ten Conference, bringing academic and athletic benefits to the entire university community; solidified its strategic partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore through the MPowering the State initiative; and launched a $1.5 billion Fearless Ideas: The Campaign for Maryland, slated to end next year.

Loh said in a tweet last night, “Dean Darryll Pines has been a great leader of the @ClarkSchool of Engineering for the past decade. He'll be a great president of #UMD as he leads the flagship university forward. Congratulations to Darryll, a Terp through and through.”

Under Pines, the Clark School was a key player in the successful conclusion of the University of Maryland’s most recent $1 billion campaign, raising more than $240 million—well over the school’s initial fundraising goal of $185 million. For Fearless Ideas, the Clark School has already raised $503.9 million, exceeding its $500 million goal. Most notably, Pines and his leadership team were instrumental in securing a $219.5 million investment—which was in 2017, the sixth-largest ever to a public university—from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation.

Among the measures of Pines’ success, the Clark School’s one-year undergraduate retention rate and five-year graduation rate are 91% and 75%, respectively—among the highest at public flagship universities in the United States. The school also has been ranked as high as 18th in the U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings. In addition, the university’s Solar Decathlon team placed first worldwide in the 2011 competition, the Clark School’s Engineers Without Borders chapter is considered one of the best in the nation, and the Engineering Sustainability Workshop launched by Pines has become a key campus event.   

Pines has also made diversity at the student, staff and faculty levels a hallmark of his tenure. Under his leadership and as a co-principal investigator, the university became a National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant recipient under the theme of developing “A Culture of Inclusive Excellence,” which is focused on improving work environments, retention and advancement of tenured and tenure-track women faculty in ways that improve the culture for all faculty. At the Clark School, the number of tenured and tenure-track women and underrepresented faculty has more than doubled under Pines’ leadership.

Pines has testified before Congress on STEM education and has led an effort as part of the American Society for Engineering Education’s Engineering Deans Council to develop a first-of-its-kind, nationwide, pre-college course on engineering principles and design. Pines is also the secretary for the Executive Committee of the National GEM Consortium, a national nonprofit providing programming and full fellowships to increase the number of domestic underrepresented minority graduate students pursuing STEM fields.

During a leave of absence from the university from 2003 to 2006, Pines served as program manager for the Tactical Technology Office and Defense Sciences Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). There, he initiated five programs primarily related to the development of aerospace technologies, for which he received the Department of Defense’s Distinguished Service Medal. He also held positions at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Chevron Corp. and Space Tethers. At LLNL, Pines worked on the Clementine spacecraft program, which discovered water near the south pole of the moon. A replica of the spacecraft now sits in the National Air and Space Museum.

He has served and continues to serve on the boards of several major corporations and not-for-profit organizations, including Engility Corp., Aurora Flight Sciences and Underwriters Laboratory. In 2015, Pines was awarded the Maryland House of Delegates Speaker’s Medallion, presented to a citizen who has made an outstanding contribution to the state. In 2018, Pines was recognized with the University of Maryland President’s Medal, and last year he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his “inspirational leadership and contributions to engineering education.”

Pines’ current research focuses on structural dynamics, including structural health monitoring and prognosis, smart sensors and adaptive, morphing and biologically inspired structures, as well as the guidance, navigation and control of aerospace vehicles. As a faculty supervisor, he has mentored over 50 master’s and doctoral students, and six postdoctoral scientists. Many of his graduates hold key positions in academia, industry and government. He is a fellow of the Institute of Physics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and has received an NSF CAREER Award. Pines received a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned MS and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.