Princeton professor named dean of natural sciences

Calderbank, who will take on the position July 1, taught electrical engineering and mathematics at Princeton, in addition to his administrative responsibilities. While at Duke, Calderbank will also be a full professor in the department of computer science, with joint appointments in mathematics and electrical engineering.

Calderbank succeeds Alvin Crumbliss, the Bishop-MacDermott chemistry professor who will serve as interim dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences and dean of Trinity College for a year. George McLendon, the previous Trinity dean, left the post in May to become provost at Rice University. On McLendon's departure, Duke announced that it would begin a national search for a permanent replacement for McLendon.

"We are pleased that our natural sciences will be led by a scholar of the caliber of Robert Calderbank," Crumbliss said in the news release. "Robert has made important contributions in applied and computational mathematics, as well as interdisciplinary programs. In addition to his leadership, we look forward to his academic contributions and research efforts to help us further advance our undergraduate and cross-school programs."

At Princeton, Calderbank took an interdisciplinary focus as director of its Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics. According to its website, the program is "an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental program that provides a home for people from many fields and directions, who share a passion for mathematics and its applications."

"I am excited about becoming part of the interdisciplinary culture at Duke and about the role the natural sciences can play in transforming education and research," Calderbank said in the news release.

Before joining Princeton's faculty in 2004, Calderbank was vice president for research at AT&T, according to a Duke news release. At the communications giant, Calderbank was responsible for a research lab focusing on large-scale data, according to the release.