Alan J. Laub, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been selected as dean of the UC Davis College of Engineering. Laub's appointment, effective Oct. 1, was approved today (May 17) by the UC Board of Regents. As dean, Laub, 47, will be responsible for academic planning, outreach, budgetary operations, and personnel administration within the college. Established in 1962, the college is composed of more than 160 faculty in seven departments and enrolls approximately 2,300 undergraduates and 700 graduate students. Research funding totaled $27 million in the college's most recent reporting year. Laub succeeds Mohammed S. Ghausi, who will retire this fall after 13 years as dean. A recognized authority on numerical algorithms for computer-aided control system design, Laub has received numerous awards for his teaching and research, including UC Santa Barbara's distinguished teaching award and an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) award for his "pioneering efforts" in his field of expertise. "We are fortunate to have attracted someone of Professor Laub's distinction," said UC Davis Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef. "He's a highly acclaimed researcher, he's gotten awards for his teaching, and he brings the added benefit of several years of experience in the UC system. We found him after an intensive national search, and he has the enthusiastic support of our faculty and administrators. We are confident that he can maintain the college's positive momentum." Laub obtained a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of British Columbia in 1969, and a master's degree in mathematics in 1972 and a doctorate in control sciences in 1974 from the University of Minnesota. He served as an assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University in 1974-75; visiting assistant professor, the University of Toronto, 1975-77; research scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1977-79; and associate professor, University of Southern California, 1979-83. He joined UC Santa Barbara in 1983 as a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, serving as department chair from 1989 to 1992 and co-director of the Center for Control Engineering and Computation from 1991 to 1995. "Just as the physical sciences have formed the cornerstone of engineering in the 20th century, the biological, computational, and information sciences will play an equally fundamental role in the 21st century," Laub said. "UC Davis is ideally poised to be on the leading edge of this trend, both in its research enterprises and in the educational opportunities provided to its students. Like this fall's entering class -- who will graduate in the year 2000! -- I am excited about joining a campus already recognized for its commitment to academic excellence and international leadership." The author or editor of five books and more than 180 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings, Laub has also served on the editorial boards of numerous leading journals. He participates actively with several professional societies, including serving as president of the IEEE Control Systems Society in 1991, and serves as a consultant to several major companies and federal government laboratories.