Johan Lukkien, professor of System Architecture and Networks, will be the new dean of Mathematics and Computer Science (M&CS). Lukkien, who has been with TU/e since 1991, starts on 1 April.

Lukkien’s appointment was partly the result of an election process in which the professors of the M&CS department voted for him as the new dean by a large majority. Today, Thursday March 23, the Executive Board appointed him.

Lukkien received his doctorate in Groningen, worked for two years at the California Institute of Technology and then moved to TU/e where he has been professor of System Architecture and Networks and head of the TU/e Security and Embedded Networked Systems (SENS) section since 2008. His research group conducts a lot of its research in collaboration with European parties and high-tech companies in the region. He is also scientific director of EIRICT, the Eindhoven Institute for Research on ICT, and scientific director of the PDEng program Software Technology.

“We are very pleased to have Johan as our new dean of Mathematics and Computer Science,” TU/e rector Frank Baaijens says. “He knows the department thoroughly and enjoys much support and respect both within and outside the department. He is the right man to bring a solid and approachable leadership to this department that, like other departments of TU/e, is facing considerable growth.”

“I feel honored by the trust that people have put in me,” is Lukkien’s reaction. “I want the department to operate as smoothly as possible. I know M&CS for 25 years and I see my position as one where it is my duty to enable everyone in the department to get the best out of themselves. I will be focusing on various aspects like the Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS), collaboration in the TU/e centers and institutes such as the Data Science Center Eindhoven and the High Tech Systems Center. Furthermore, strengthening the collaboration and communication within the department will take a significant amount of my attention as will the high quality of the study programs. I am also keen to maintain my contact with the practice of research and education by remaining active as a professor in my group.”

Johan Lukkien succeeds Jakob de Vlieg.