David Grewell is the new dean of the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology.
Grewell, who was on campus Friday to meet faculty and students at the college, will officially step into his new role on July 1.
He came to NIU from North Dakota State University where he served as chair of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. While there, he founded and led the Great Plains Region NSF I-Corps Hub, a consortium of eight universities that provides an immersive training program for entrepreneurs that helps inventors take ideas from concept to marketplace.
Prior to his move to NDSU, he was a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems at Iowa State University. During his 14 years there, Grewell founded and led the National Science Foundation Industry/University Collaborative Research Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites. The center, comprised of representatives from four universities, works to further the creation and use of plastics, coatings adhesives and composites made from agricultural and forestry feedstocks, allowing them to decompose more readily.
Grewell hopes to involve CEET in similar relationships to build upon what he considers an already impressive track record of working closely with industry. He also plans to work with community colleges and high schools across the region to attract students to careers in engineering and to make sure that they arrive on campus prepared to handle the academic rigors of engineering and can persist to graduation.
Grewell earned his BS, MS, and Ph.D. in welding engineering from The Ohio State University. He holds 17 patents, has authored numerous publications (including three books), and has received numerous honors and awards. His research projects have attracted over $32 million in grant funding – more than $8 million of that for projects on which he served as principal investigator.
