August 9, 2024

Dear Members of Our Campus Community,

I am writing to share with you that, after nearly 16 years of outstanding and visionary leadership, Susan and Bruce Worster Dean of Science and Professor of Physics Pierre Wiltzius has decided to retire, effective September 1, 2024.

We are honored to have this opportunity to thank Dean Wiltzius for his many extraordinary contributions to our campus over the years, including his service as our Executive Dean of our College of Letters and Science. His tenure as dean has been marked by a strong commitment to excellence and innovation that has enhanced our programs and raised our profile as a leading research university. 

Under his leadership, the Division of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences has developed visionary new opportunities in quantitative systems biology, environment and sustainability, neuroscience, data science, quantum science, and materials innovation, among others, which have paved the way for major successes in raising funds from both private and public sectors. The division has recruited and retained many world-class faculty, including 175 new faculty members and 14 new endowed chairs, many of whom have been recognized with national and international honors, including elections to the National Academies. In addition, the number of graduates with bachelor's degrees in MLPS majors has increased from 1,244 to 2,703 during the past 16 years.

Dean Wiltzius himself is a highly regarded researcher and pioneer in the areas of soft-condensed matter and microphotonics. His current research is focused on developing new fabrication techniques for photonic crystals, including colloidal self-assembly and multi-beam interference lithography. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Prior to joining UC Santa Barbara, Dr. Wiltzius was the director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he also held faculty appointments in the Department of Physics and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to joining the Beckman Institute in 2001, he was at Lucent Technologies - Bell Laboratories from 1984 to 2001, where he eventually became the director of semiconductor physics research.

I will consult with the Academic Senate and the Executive Vice Chancellor to form a search advisory committee to conduct a national search for a new Dean of Science. We will appoint an interim dean very soon; consultations are underway.

Please join me in thanking Dean Wiltzius for his exceptional leadership and extraordinary contributions to our campus. We wish him well in this exciting next step.

Sincerely,

Henry T. Yang
Chancellor