Ishwar K. Puri

Ishwar K. Puri

Dr. Ishwar K. Puri is the Vice President of Research and Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He oversees the USC Office of Research that guides the university’s research programs.

He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Dr. Puri is the author of over 200 archival publications and books that have been cited over 7,500 times per Google Scholar with an H-Index of 49. He is ranked among the top 2% of scientists in the world based on the citations of those who published between 1965-2019. He has founded and mentored startups, most recently Celerite Labs that produces a rapid printer for cells and tissues.

Prior to his appointment at University of Southern California, Dr. Puri was dean of the Faculty of Engineering and professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In Canada, he was one of eighteen members of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, an appointment made by the Governor General of Canada. He served as chair of Engineering Deans Canada which has forty-four members.

Before that, he was N. Waldo Harrison professor of engineering science and mechanics (ESM) at Virginia Tech where he served as department head from 2004-13.

Dr. Puri obtained his Ph.D. (1987), and M.S. (1984) degrees in Engineering Science (Applied Mechanics) from the University of California, San Diego after obtaining a B.Sc. (1982) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delhi (Delhi College of Engineering). He served as an Assistant Research Engineer at the University of California, San Diego from 1987-90.

Thereafter, he was appointed as assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 1990, promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure in 1994, and to the rank of professor in 1999. He served at UIC as associate dean for research and graduate studies (2000-01) and as executive associate dean of engineering (2001-04).

Dr. Puri serves on the editorial board of Scientific Reports, a Nature Group journal, and is an associate editor of Research, a Science partner journal.