John Leonard Anderson (born 1945) is the former president of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

. He was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

, who served as the eighth president of

Illinois Institute of Technology The Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Illinois Tech and IIT, is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the m ...

. Prior to his appointment at IIT, Anderson held positions in academia at various institutions, serving both as the

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

and the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

of the

College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( Dip.Eng.)and (B.Eng.) or ( M.Eng.), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Biography

Anderson was born and grew up in Wilmington,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

. He attended the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

where he received a B.S. in chemical engineering in 1967. He then went on to obtain an M.S. in chemical engineering, and completed a Ph.D. in 1971, also in chemical engineering, from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

. Anderson was part of

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

's faculty for five years, where he served as an assistant professor of chemical engineering. On 1 September 1976, Anderson left Cornell to begin a 28-year career at Carnegie Mellon. Starting out as an associate professor, he soon became director of the Biomedical Engineering Program. He continued to weave through the ranks at Carnegie Mellon before being conferred as a university professor on 1 July 1994, the highest rank for a professor offered at that institution. Two years later, he was appointed dean of the college of engineering. He was in that position for eight years before leaving the university on 1 April 2004 to become provost, university vice president, and professor of chemical engineering at Case Western Reserve. He was elected to the

in 1992 for contributions to the understanding of colloidal hydrodynamics and membrane transport phenomena. He was also elected as a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 2005. Anderson served at Case Western Reserve from 2004 until 2007. He and the university president Edward M. Hundert lost no-confidence vote March 2, 2006, by the College of Arts and Sciences faculty, by 131–44 against Hundert and 97–68 against Anderson. He joined IIT on August 1, 2007, as president and professor of chemical engineering. He stepped down as president eight years later, and he was elected president of the National Academy of Engineering in 2019 for a six-year term.

Awards and accomplishments

Anderson was appointed to National Science Board in 2014 and received the National Engineering Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies in 2012. He was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and awarded the Acrivos Professional Progress Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 1989. Anderson was a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation from 1982 to 1983. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Delaware, Illinois Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Case Western Reserve University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, John Leonard 1945 births Living people American chemical engineers Carnegie Mellon University faculty Cornell University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Illinois Institute of Technology faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering People from Wilmington, Delaware Presidents of Illinois Institute of Technology University of Delaware alumni Grainger College of Engineering alumni Engineers from Illinois