Summary
Dr. Maragakis served as dean from 2008 to 2022 before returning to faculty. As dean, Dr. Maragakis led the College of Engineering toward its vision of achieving measurable national and international recognition in the areas of education, research and outreach. Dr. Maragakis has led a comprehensive strategic planning effort and has set the priority of offering students a globally competitive engineering education. Under his leadership the College has seen undergraduate and graduate enrollment, retention and graduation, research productivity and faculty size reach record levels, and the new 100,000 square foot William N. Pennington Engineering Building opened in 2020.
Dr. Maragakis has initiated and overseen the creation and growth of research initiatives supporting economic development for Nevada and the surrounding region, including the Nevada Advanced Autonomous Systems Innovation Center; the Renewable Energy Center, which has developed into the Nevada Institute for Sustainability; the interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Center; the Nevada Water Innovation Campus; and an expansion of the Earthquake Engineering Lab.
Under Dr. Maragakis’ leadership, the College of Engineering has also established a comprehensive K-12 engineering outreach program, including summer camp programs, in-school tutoring and engineering outreach lessons, and collaboration with the College of Education to introduce engineering into the K-12 curriculum, including initiating an engineering education program with one tenure-track faculty member.
In February 2018, Dr. Maragakis received the Skill, Integrity, Responsibility (SIR) Award from the Associated General Contractors.
Education
- Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 1985
- M.S., California Institute of Technology, 1981
- B.Sc., National Technical University of Athens, Greece, 1980