The University of Vermont announced today that Luis Garcia has been named dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. Garcia also will be named the Barrett Foundation Professor in the college. He begins work at UVM on Aug. 15.

Garcia, a highly accomplished administrator and researcher, is currently head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University, a position he has held since 2005, and is a professor in the department. Garcia joined the Colorado State University faculty in 1991.

Garcia also created the Integrated Decision Support Group in Colorado State’s Water Center and served as the group’s director throughout his tenure at the university. The mission of the Integrated Decision Support Group is to combine advanced modeling techniques with software engineering to guide organizational decision-making, mainly related to water resources issues.

Garcia has been the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on more than 95 funded projects with total funding of over $12 million and the single principal investigator on more than 70 projects with a total funding of over $6 million.

Garcia also served as associate director of the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station for five years, a position that allowed him to become familiar with the broad breadth of research that is conducted at Colorado State.

“Dr. Garcia is a terrific match for UVM,” said UVM President Tom Sullivan. “He embodies the kind of teacher-scholar we prize at UVM and seek to recruit to our faculty. He has also shown strong leadership ability in a variety of settings, a key attribute as we continue to enhance and build STEM education and research at UVM. Garcia received strong support throughout all his public interviews on campus from a large number of constituent groups. His research focus on water systems and the environment also fits well with the university’s and the state’s priorities.”

“I am very excited about joining UVM and the opportunity to work with an outstanding academic community and group of individuals," said Garcia. "I very much look forward to joining the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and working closely with all members of the college, alumni and friends to continue to increase its national and international impact.”

Garcia is an expert in calculations of evapotranspiration (ET), the return of water vapor to the atmosphere by evaporation from land and water surfaces and plant sources; in remote sensing of ET; and in spatial analysis in natural systems, specifically in applications for water resources and irrigation and drainage.