Andrew Houck, a Princeton University professor and national leader in the field of quantum science and engineering, has been appointed dean of the University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, effective Aug. 1. 

Houck, who co-directs the Princeton Quantum Initiative and leads a federally funded national quantum research center, is the Anthony H.P. Lee ’79 P11 P14 Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. 

“I am thrilled that Andrew Houck will be the next dean of Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science,” President Christopher L. Eisgruber said. “He has excelled at Princeton as a decorated student, beloved teacher, and team-building researcher. Andrew understands the soul of the School, and he has the exceptional vision and skills required to lead it forward at a time of both turbulence and opportunity.”

Houck, who was valedictorian of Princeton’s undergraduate Class of 2000, earned his Ph.D. in physics at Harvard University, then worked in a prominent quantum physics lab at Yale University before joining the Princeton faculty in 2008. He played a leading role in developing one of the most promising approaches to building a quantum computer and has consulted widely across industry and government to help guide effective strategies for developing quantum technology. 

A highly regarded teacher and mentor, Houck also has been a leader in educational initiatives, spearheading the creation of a first-year engineering curriculum at Princeton that proved successful in retaining and launching students who might otherwise have left engineering.

“Andrew Houck is a fantastic scholar, an innovative and devoted educator, and a seasoned leader of interdisciplinary research,” Provost Jennifer Rexford said. “He will be an exceptional dean of engineering at an important time for the School, the University, and our country, and I so look forward to working with him.”

Houck succeeds Dean Andrea Goldsmith as she becomes president of Stony Brook University. He said he is excited to follow in the footsteps of Goldsmith, who has overseen a period of dramatic growth for the school. That includes new buildings set to open this fall, multiple interdisciplinary initiatives, expansion in fields such as bioengineering, artificial intelligence and quantum engineering, and about 40 new faculty members. A priority, he said, will be to listen to those new faculty and support emerging ideas “so that we’re not just riding the current amazing technological wave in quantum, AI and bio, but also seeding and nurturing whatever is next on the horizon.”

A great strength of Princeton, Houck said, is that it is small enough for faculty and students to interact across the whole University and large enough to develop a “critical mass” of expertise in new areas. “The joy of being a professor is you talk to your colleagues and you find 15 new things that are exciting and suddenly your research shifts,” he said, referring particularly to the newly hired faculty members. With the right support, he said, “Suddenly this cluster of three, four, five people could explode into the next big thing.”

Houck said this also is an important time for academic leaders to build trust across society. “Technology, science, and engineering research has been a major driver of economic success, of national security for the country for the last 80 years, and that’s thanks to a partnership of industry, academia, and the federal government,” he said. “That feels strained right now. We need leaders to stand up and work to strengthen that relationship while preserving our core values.”

Among those core values are excellence and inclusiveness, he said. “We need absolute excellence in teaching, absolute excellence in research. There is simply no compromise on that front.” 

Providing pathways for students from all backgrounds to succeed is essential to that excellence, Houck added. “I want engineering to be accessible to all. I’ve seen in my research how having different perspectives on research problems can really shake you out of some particular way of thinking and suddenly push you to the next new idea that you need to get past some stumbling block.”

A similar openness has been key in Princeton’s culture of collaborating across disciplines, Houck said, noting that working across science, engineering, the humanities and social sciences is ever more important as technology disrupts many areas of day-to-day life. “Trying to teach people broadly about engineering, not just in its own terms, but in the context of humanity is incredibly important, especially at a time when people are more skeptical of science than they have been in the past,” he said.

Respecting past strengths and fostering new ones has been a longstanding focus for Houck. In 2000, his valedictory address referenced a conversation with University arborists about campus trees, in a year the area was experiencing a drought. “The University clearly can’t water every single tree; do they rank them? Do they have a ‘list of important trees’ that get watered? No, the University knows that older trees have deep enough roots that they can draw water from well below the dry surface. It is the young trees that are nurtured by this University,” he said, noting how his class had been nurtured in much the same way. 

“But sustenance is not enough,” he continued. “We must ask, what trees are we planting now that will give shade in a hundred years?”

Houck said he sees his new role similarly. “The job of a dean and a senior leader of the University is to think on time scales that are not what will happen during my tenure as dean, but to think on time scales of decades and centuries, to tend the trees that have been planted by generations before, and to plant just a couple of my own.”