Dan Mote

C. D. (Dan) Mote, Jr. is President of the National Academy of Engineering and Regents Professor, on leave, from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Dr. Mote is a native Californian who earned his BS, MS and PhD degrees at the University of California, Berkeley in mechanical engineering between 1959 and 1963. After a post-doctoral year in England and three years as an assistant professor at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, he returned to Berkeley to join the faculty in mechanical engineering for the next 31 years. He and his students investigated the dynamics, stability and control of high-speed rotating and translating continua (e.g., disks, webs, tapes and cables) and also biomechanical problems emanating from snow skiing. He coined the area called ‘dynamics of axially moving materials’ encompassing these systems. Fifty-eight PhD students earned their degrees under his mentorship.

At Berkeley, he held an endowed chair in mechanical systems and served as chair of the mechanical engineering department from 1987-1991 when the NRC ranked its graduate program effectiveness highest nationally. Because of his success at raising funds for mechanical engineering, in 1991 he was appointed vice chancellor at Berkeley expressly to create and lead a one-billion dollar capital campaign for the campus that ultimately reached $1.4 billion.

In 1998, Dr. Mote was recruited to the presidency of the University of Maryland, College Park, a position he held until 2010 when he was then appointed Regents Professor. At the university, his goal was to elevate its self-expectation of achievement and its national and global positioning through proactive initiatives. Over his tenure the number of academy members among the faculty tripled, three noble laureates were recognized, an accredited school of public health and a new department of bioengineering were created. He also founded a 130- acre research park next to the campus, faculty research funds increased by 150%, and partnerships with surrounding federal agencies and with international organizations expanded greatly. The number of students studying abroad tripled, he created an annual open house day that has attracted over 100,000 visitors on that day, founded a charitable foundation for the campus whose board of trustees launched a $1 billion capital campaign that reached its goal, and he took every student to lunch that wanted to go. The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked the campus #36 in 2010 and engineering #13 globally.

The NAE elected him to membership in 1988, and to the positions of Councillor for 2002-08, Treasurer for 2009-2013 and President for six years beginning July 1, 2013. He has served on the National Research Council Governing Board Executive Committee since 2009. He chaired the NRC Committee on Global Science and Technology Strategies and their effects on U.S. National Security, co-chaired the National Academies Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (2007-2013), and co-chaired the Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Workforce Needs for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Industrial Base. He was a founding member of the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board (2004-2010), and vice-chair of the NRC Committee on the Department of Defense Basic Research (2004). He also served on the NRC committee authoring the “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” reports of 2005 and 2010.

Dr. Mote recognitions include the NAE Founders Award, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Medal, and The Humboldt Prize of the Federal Republic of Germany, the University of California, Berkeley: Distinguished Teaching Award, Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award, Berkeley Citation and Excellence in Achievement Award. He is an Honorary Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Mechanics, the Acoustical Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He holds three honorary doctorates and two honorary professorships.