Dean's Biography
Kenith E. Meissner II, Ph.D., FInstP
Dean, College of Engineering
Prof. Ken Meissner began his role as Dean of The University of Texas at El Paso College of Engineering on Aug. 3, 2022. Meissner arrived at UTEP with a robust history of service in both the private sector and academia, having most recently served as founding Pro Vice- Chancellor/Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Swansea University in Wales.
As Dean, Meissner leads more than 290 faculty and staff in seven academic departments and more than 15 state-of-the-art laboratories and research centers such as the W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation and the Aerospace Center, which have been instrumental in helping UTEP reach its status as the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.
Meissner graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University in 1987 and earned his Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center in 1994.
After graduating, Meissner was a postdoctoral appointee in the Surface Physics Group at Sandia National Laboratories.
Following stints at Virginia Tech and Texas A&M, Meissner moved to the College of Engineering at Swansea University in 2014 as a Professor and Chair in the Centre for NanoHealth. From 2016-2020, he moved to the College of Science and served as Head of Physics.
Meissner later stepped into the role of Pro Vice-Chancellor/Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Swansea and oversaw the creation of an academic unit with more than 6,500 students served by more than 300 faculty members. Under his leadership, the new Science and Engineering unit achieved an increase in student satisfaction based on a national survey and placed 10 programs in their respective national top 10 rankings.
In addition to his academic career, Meissner has worked with several companies to develop a noninvasive glucose measurement system for people with diabetes. In the process, he garnered significant experience in the transfer of technology between academia and the private sector.
Meissner’s research has centered on the development of novel optical techniques and materials for diagnosing disease. He has published over 90 papers and has received funding from funders such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, medical charities, nonprofit organizations, and private companies.