Wayne State University's Board of Governors approved the appointment of Robert L. Thomas as dean of the College of Science at its regular meeting June 20. His appointment is effective July 1 and he will report to Dr. Charles R. Bantz, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs.

"Wayne State is extremely fortunate that Bob Thomas, who has served as interim dean since last summer, is assuming the deanship," said Bantz. "Bob brings a long history of scholarly achievement and administrative accomplishment to this position, experience which will certainly strengthen and enhance the efforts and goals of the college." Thomas joined Wayne State in 1964, following undergraduate work at Bowdoin College in his native state of Maine and graduate studies at Brown University.

In his nearly 37 years in the Physics Department at Wayne State, Thomas and his colleagues pioneered the field of thermal wave imaging and materials characterization. Together, they are inventors on more than a dozen patents, many of which have been licensed from the university and are finding practical uses in industry.

Thomas has been a leader in interdisciplinary research at Wayne State, having founded the Institute for Manufacturing Research in 1986 and having served as its director since its inception. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of Wayne State's Academy of Scholars.

Thomas is married to the former Sandra Evenson of Arlington, Virginia. Residents of Huntington Woods, their family includes a son and daughter-in-law, Stephen and Melissa, and grandchildren Grant and Alison, of Beaverton, Oregon.

Robert Thomas: For high resolution version of the picture click here.