Gregory C. Farrington

Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science
University of Pennsylvania

Gregory C. Farrington is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and since 1990 has been Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Prof. Farrington's principal research interests are in the areas of electrochemistry, solid electrolytes, and solid state chemistry. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 papers on the synthesis, structure, and transport characteristics of conductive ceramics and polymers and holds 27 patents. He has served on a variety of university and government positions and committees, including as member of the Carnegie Foundation Commission on "National Security and the Future of Arms Control," the Materials Research Advisory Committee of the National Science Foundation, the Council of the Materials Research Society, and President of the International Society of Solid State Ionics. In 1984 he was awarded an honorary Ph.D. by the University of Uppsala, Sweden, in recognition of his research in solid state electrochemistry.

At the University of Pennsylvania, Prof. Farrington has been very active on issues relating to the new uses of computer and information technology in education.

Prof. Farrington received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Clarkson University in 1968 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1972. After serving as a member of the technical staff in materials research at the General Electric Research and Development Center, he joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979. From 1984 to 1986 he served as Chairman of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and from 1987-1990 as Director of the NSF-sponsored Materials Research Laboratory at Penn.