Jelena Kovacevic, NYU
Jelena Kovačević became the Dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering in August 2018—the first woman to hold that position since the founding, in 1854, of the school’s precursor institutions: the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. Notably, under her leadership, NYU announced a $1 Billion investment in engineering in 2022.
Kovačević— the author of several books and award-winning papers, as well as the founder and co-chair of the Northeast Regional Deans (NeRDs) council—has also worked at Bell Labs and was the co-founder and Technical VP of xWaveforms.
Her research interests include biomedical imaging and multiresolution techniques such as wavelets and frames, and her many laurels include an IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Achievement Award and an IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society Career Achievement Award for pioneering and outstanding academic leadership in biomedical imaging research and education.
She received the Dipl. Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1986, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University, in New York, in 1988 and 1991, respectively.
Before joining NYU, she was the Hamerschlag University Professor, Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.