Vilupanur A. Ravi
Present Position
Professor and Chair, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Director of Research and Partnerships, College of Engineering, at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Chapter Affiliation
California State Polytechnic University
Background
CV
Biography
Statement
Sigma Xi provides an excellent platform for interdisciplinary dialogue that can transcend a wide range of disciplines. The key problems and challenges facing us today need this sort of multipronged approach to create viable solutions. Sigma Xi is also vital in providing a link between young faculty and the experienced ones across the disciplines, thereby providing exciting opportunities within and between campuses.
Over the years I have collaborated with faculty in different disciplines within and outside campus. I am working to rebuild the Sigma Xi chapter on campus and will use this experience to help other campuses in similar situations. Over the past three decades, in my industrial and academic career, I have had the privilege of working with enormously talented colleagues with a variety of backgrounds. I have had the opportunity to lead global teams, develop new products and processes, and build laboratories in my industrial career. In my academic career, I have taught thousands of students, advised the engineering projects of numerous students, and developed programs and research. I have served the university in different capacities, including department chair, different committees at the department and college levels, and now, as the director for Research and Partnerships at the College of Engineering.
I have leadership experience in professional organizations e.g., serving as the 2017–2018 president of the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), hosting the 99th Annual Meeting of the AAAS–Pacific Division this summer, serving in the Board of Trustees of ASM International (2010–2013), that, if elected, will serve me well. If elected director of the Southwest Region, I will use my broad and varied experience to help campuses grow their Sigma Xi activities by building bridges across disciplines and also into communities.