Active 1974 - 1994; Emeritus 1994; Recalled 2001 - 2011
M. Lea Rudee joined Â鶹´«Ã½ faculty in 1974 after ten years at Rice University as Master of Weiss College. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1965. Dr. Rudee was a Guggenheim Scholar at Cambridge University in England in 1972, doing research at the Cavendish Lab, the site of the discovery of DNA. Afternoon tea was held daily, where Dr. Rudee was able to visit with famous scientists, like Sir Nevil Mott.
At UCSD, he was the founding Provost of Earl Warren College, the Founding Dean of the Division of Engineering which then became the Jacobs School of Engineering, and coordinator of the Graduate Program in Materials Science. His early research was on Amorphous Thin Films, which influenced some of the development of computer chips and semiconductors. Dr. Rudee interacted with nearby community tech firms, who supported UCSD engineering efforts, to help develop jobs for graduate students. He participated in long-range planning for the Division of Engineering, particularly with early engineering buildings known as EBU1 and EBU2, as well as the Center for Magnetic Recording Research, Structures Lab for Earthquake Studies and UCSD Shake Table. Further contributions to the engineering school took the form of artistic influence, encouraging placement of the Bruce Nauman neon sculpture Vices and Virtues on the Charles Lee Powell Structural Systems Laboratory.
His influence continues at Â鶹´«Ã½ where a photo of Dr. Rudee as a toddler, along with photos of other Deans of Engineering, are displayed on a lopsided mantel piece in the Fallen Star (part of the Stuart Collection on campus). More recently, a collaboratory in Franklin Antonio Hall was named in honor of Dr. Rudee as the M.Lea Rudee Center for Engineered Natural Intelligence Collaboratory. Dr. Rudee is honored by this gesture especially because of the multidisciplinary nature of the collaboratories, a theme in which much of his work embodied.
Outside of his professional background Dr. Rudee’s past leisurely activities include bicycling tours, backpacking, and photography. He was a photographer for modern dance companies like Isaacs- McCaleb and Dancers, and a board member for environmental organizations such as The Glen Canyon Institute for the Colorado River, The San Diego River Park Foundation, and National Sierra Club. Some of his work was published in the New York Times and some photographs are on file at UCSD’s Library.