Breña and Tessier Named Department Heads

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Two College of Engineering faculty members have been named new Department Heads. Sergio Breña, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will serve as the next Department Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). Russ Tessier, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and outgoing Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Operations, will serve as the Department Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). The two will transition into their new positions over the summer and will serve 5-year terms concluding August 31, 2029.

Sergio Breña has been a valued faculty member in CEE at UMass since 2000. He is a widely recognized leader in the design and behavior of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures, use of fiber-reinforced materials in civil infrastructure applications, field performance of bridges, structural testing of bridge and building structural components, and performance of concrete in infrastructure applications. He is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute and the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute. He has also served with distinction as the Associate Department Head of CEE since 2018, and as a part of the college's senior leadership team as the Chair of Faculty Diversity. He was also one of the co-PIs and leaders of the UMass ADVANCE grant to advance women and underrepresented faculty in science and engineering.

Russ Tessier has been a valued faculty member in ECE at UMass since 1999. He is a world leader in configurable computing, including FPGA architectures, design and security. He has also served with distinction as a part of the college's senior leadership team since 2017, first as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Operations and subsequently as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Operations. During that time, he also stepped up to serve as the Acting Head of Biomedical Engineering in 2019 and as the Interim Head of Chemical Engineering during 2022-2023. 

The outgoing Department Heads are John Tobiason and Kris Hollot, who have had a tremendous impact on the department and the college. Tobiason served as Department Head for CEE since 2019. He will be retiring from the faculty, but will continue to be engaged with important research in water quality. Hollot has served as ECE Department Head since 2006 (with a few stints as Acting/Interim Dean) and plans to return to the ECE faculty.