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In Memoriam: Remembering Mervyn Lea Rudee, Founding Dean of the Division of Engineering at Â鶹´«Ã½

March 20, 2024--  Mervyn Lea Rudee, the University of California San Diego professor who served as Founding Dean of the Â鶹´«Ã½ School (formerly Division) of Engineering, passed away on January 28, 2024. Kind and collaborative, Rudee had a knack for relating to people on many different levels.

He served as Â鶹´«Ã½’s first dean of the Division of Engineering from May 1982 through June 1993. Prior to becoming Dean, he had served as the first provost of Warren College and as coordinator of the Graduate Program in Materials Science.

Rudee guided the Â鶹´«Ã½ Division of Engineering to national prominence in a wide range of areas including bioengineering, electrical and computer engineering, fluid and solid mechanics, materials science and engineering physics.

He is remembered as someone who could build consensus, a trait which served him well as the first leader of Engineering at Â鶹´«Ã½. He encouraged interdisciplinary and interdepartmental collaborations in research and academic programs. He is remembered by engineering colleagues as being collegial, helpful and supportive of faculty efforts to obtain research funding.

"As Dean, I am always grateful to acknowledge that our achievements come from the strong foundations on which our Jacobs School is built. The importance of these foundations hit home in a deeply personal way with the passing of M. Lea Rudee. Lea served as the first first dean of engineering here at Â鶹´«Ã½. He did so much important work to bring Â鶹´«Ã½’s strengths in applied mechanics, engineering sciences, electrical engineering and computer sciences together under the umbrella of a new Division of Engineering. And he did it without losing sight of the humanity of everyone involved," said Albert P. Pisano Dean of the Â鶹´«Ã½ Jacobs School of Engineering and Special Adviser to the Chancellor. 

Leading the New Division of Engineering at Â鶹´«Ã½

The creation of a Division of Engineering on the Â鶹´«Ã½ campus was approved by the UC Regents in June 1981. This Division brought together Â鶹´«Ã½’s departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) and Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences (AMES).

Under Rudee's leadership, the engineering research enterprise grew larger and stronger. At the same time, Rudee prioritized engineering education for both undergraduates and graduate students. In addition, Rudee oversaw and championed the Division’s efforts to diversify the student body and to ensure that all engineering students had what they needed to succeed.

Rudee also worked to create stronger connections with industry. This included efforts to build a culture of industry-academia collaboration among the engineering faculty at Â鶹´«Ã½. He participated in efforts to establish the Center for Magnetic Recording Research (now the Center for Memory and Recording Research) and the Charles Lee Powell Structural Systems Laboratory on the Â鶹´«Ã½ campus.

The footprint of engineering on the Â鶹´«Ã½ campus grew under Rudee’s leadership. In 1988, Rudee oversaw the opening of Engineering Building Unit 1 (EBU1), now called Jacobs Hall. In 1992, the Division of Engineering celebrated the groundbreaking of Engineering Building Unit 2 (EBU2).

“Lea Rudee became the first Dean of the Division of Engineering in 1982, and I succeeded him as it became a School of Engineering in 1994,” said Bob Conn, dean emeritus of the Â鶹´«Ã½ Jacobs School of Engineering. “Lea had the characteristics ascribed to him – collegial, helpful and supportive. Following the founders of engineering and applied science on campus in the 1960s, in particular Sol Penner and Henry Booker, Lea began the transformation from two large encompassing departments to form a division of engineering that grew under his leadership. Lea’s work became the foundation that enabled, in 1993/94, the new School of Engineering to grow through the 1990s and achieve world prominence, something that has continued to this day. From the enabling seeds laid down by the likes of Lea, Sol, and Henry, a giant oak has grown; and today the Jacobs School is one of the largest and most highly ranked of all engineering schools in the world. The School owes Lea a great debt.”

Lea Rudee’s Research

Rudee’s own engineering and materials science research interests at Â鶹´«Ã½ were broad and often involved efforts to understand the microstructure of materials in order to develop means to control these microstructures to make useful properties. His work included the application of electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction to problems in materials science, including thin magnetic films and materials for the magnetic storage industry, amorphous semiconductors, radiation damage in semiconductors, meteorites, biomaterials and superconductors.

He worked across disciplines at Â鶹´«Ã½. Collaborations included work with a theoretical cosmo-chemist aimed at understanding the origin of the solar system and the composition of the interior of the Earth; and work with a vascular surgeon in the Â鶹´«Ã½ School of Medicine to better understand biocompatible materials.

Biographical Information

M. Lea Rudee was born October 4, 1935. He studied at Stanford University on an ROTC scholarship, earning a bachelor’s in metallurgical engineering in 1958. From 1958 to 1961, he served as an officer in the United States Navy, fulfilling his ROTC scholarship obligations. He then returned to Stanford University and earned a master’s in materials science in 1962, and a Ph.D. in materials science in 1964.

Rudee was a member of the faculty at Rice University from 1964 to 1974. While at Rice University, he spent time at Cambridge University where Rudee did research at the Cavendish Laboratory as a Guggenheim Fellow. He studied the atomic arrangements of amorphous semiconductors, a field in which he was a leading authority.

He joined the Â鶹´«Ã½ faculty in 1974. He remained active on campus in many capacities even after transitioning to professor emeritus status in 1994. His academic accolades include being elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Beyond the Â鶹´«Ã½ campus, Rudee served on the board of directors for environmental and arts nonprofits including the San Diego River Park Foundation, the Glen Canyon Institute for the Colorado River, the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts (now called the Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art), and the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla. He was an avid photographer all his life.

Rudee leaves behind his loving wife of 65 years Betsy (Eager) Rudee, daughter Beth Roach (Josh), son David Rudee (Taiche) and 4 grandsons, Kyle Rudee, Sean Rudee, Michael Roach and Brett Roach.

Media Contacts

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Daniel Kane
Jacobs School of Engineering
858-534-3262
dbkane@ucsd.edu