Georgia Institute of Technology president, Dr. G. Wayne Clough, announced today that Dr. Jean-Lou Chameau, Georgia Tech provost and vice president for academic affairs, has been named president of the California Institute of Technology and will be departing the Institute at the end of August.

"Jean-Lou has played an indispensable role in the evolution of Georgia Tech's stature as one of our nation's top 10 public universities," Clough said. "We are very proud of his appointment and hope to take advantage of this link between two of the nation's leading technological universities. We consider ourselves fortunate to have enjoyed the benefits of his talents for such an extraordinary length of time."

Dr. Chameau, 53, has been provost and vice president for academic affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology since June 1, 2001; and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar since 1995. He joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 1991.

Previously, he served as dean of the College of Engineering. As dean of the largest college of engineering in the country, Dr. Chameau led educational and research programs in nine engineering disciplines; all of which have received national recognition, and collectively confer the largest number of engineering degrees to undergraduate and graduate students in the country.

In addition to continuing to enhance the strengths of its core disciplines, Dr. Chameau has been instrumental in making Georgia Tech a worldwide model for interdisciplinary activities, technology innovation, and entrepreneurship, and a catalyst for economic development. In addition, during his tenure he placed a strong focus on efforts to improve the educational experience of students, increase diversity on the campus, recruit women into engineering and science, and to foster entrepreneurship and international opportunities for faculty and students.

Dr. Chameau received his secondary and undergraduate education in France, and graduate education in civil engineering from Stanford University. In 1980 he joined the civil engineering faculty at Purdue University, where he subsequently became full professor and head of the geotechnical engineering program. In 1991, he became the chair of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 1994-95, he was the president of Golder Associates Inc. He currently serves on the boards of directors for MTS Systems Corporation, Prime Engineering, and is a trustee and treasurer of the Georgia Tech Research Corporation. He received the Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award, Society of Women Engineers in 2004, a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award and the ASCE Casagrande Award.