Wayne Jones Jr. will assume leadership of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences effective July 10. Jones is currently professor and chair in the department of chemistry at Binghamton University, State University of New York, where he has served in numerous leadership roles including as founding director of the Center for Learning and Teaching. He also leads the transdisciplinary excellence initiative in smart energy.
“Dean Jones brings a wide range of experience and expertise to help lead the college as it strives to highlight student success, enhance and expand graduate education, and increase both applied and fundamental research,” says UNH Provost Nancy Targett.
Jones completed post-doctoral work at the University of Texas at Austin before joining the faculty at Binghamton in 1993. In addition to running the Center for Learning and Teaching from 1996-2008, he established the Go Green Institute in 2009 to encourage middle school students to pursue careers in science and engineering and served as interim dean of Harpur College of Arts and Sciences in 2012-13. The recipient of several teaching awards, including the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2001, his teaching interests have involved long-term curriculum development in chemistry and expanded use of technology. Jones currently serves on the Faculty Access to Computing Technologies committee for the State University of New York.
“I am honored to join the UNH community as dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences,” says Jones. “Interdisciplinary scholarship and high quality teaching will play pivotal roles in addressing the challenges facing our world. I’m excited to join this vibrant intellectual community and look forward to working with faculty, students, alumni and a range of research and industrial partners.”
Jones earned a bachelor’s in chemistry from St. Michael’s College and a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research involves the study of photo-induced electron and energy transfer processes in inorganic and polymer systems with specific research interests in polymer sensors, photovoltaics and electronic nanomaterials. He has authored more than 140 publications and articles, holds four patents and is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society. His work has been supported by over $11 million in federal research grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Defense, and industrial partners. In 2015 he co-founded Chromananotech LLC, a startup company producing optical nanomaterials patented from his university research lab for use in energy, biomedical and defense related applications.
