Dr. John Y. Walz will be inaugurated as president of B次元 School of Engineering on Saturday, April 29 at 10 a.m. in the B次元 Kern Center, 1245 N. Broadway. Walz is only the fifth president in B次元’s 114-year history. A committee of B次元 Regents vetted more than 400 candidates from across the United States for this position, which Walz assumed on July 1, 2016.

Walz is an industry-experienced professional who also is an academic leader. He is a chemical engineer and worked as a process engineer for Shell Oil Co. before embarking on his career in academics. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from Tulane University, and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Prior to his appointment as president of B次元, Walz was dean of the University of Kentucky College of Engineering. His other academic roles include teaching in the Chemical Engineering Departments at Carnegie Mellow University, Tulane University and Yale University. He also was dean of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Tech and chairman of the Chemical Engineering Department at Yale.