President Pinto announces interim provost

Dear All,

I am pleased to make you aware that Dr. John Weidner, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, has agreed to serve as interim executive vice president for academic affairs and provost upon Dr. Kristi Nelson’s departure. Interim Provost Nelson will remain in the role until June 1, and we will relaunch a national search for a new provost in the fall.  

Dr. Weidner was appointed CEAS dean and professor of chemical engineering in 2019, and he serves as chair of UC’s Council of Deans. Under his leadership, CEAS has grown enrollment by 14% and achieved record-breaking research, topping out at $46 million in grant awards the last fiscal year.  

He also launched an important partnership in the fall with the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network, a collaboration with more than 65 leading engineering institutions dedicated to equipping engineering students with an entrepreneurial mindset. He guided CEAS to opening a new UC Bioscience Center in 2023 and has spearheaded his college’s rich collaborations with both Digital Futures and the 1819 Innovation Hub within the Cincinnati Innovation District. 

Prior to UC, Dr. Weidner was chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of South Carolina (USC), director of their Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Center and a distinguished scientist at the Savannah River National Laboratory. He joined USC as assistant professor in 1991 and was named professor in 2004. Additionally, Dr. Weidner has been a visiting scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.  

His research involves a variety of electroanalytical techniques and sophisticated mathematical models to advance the fields of advanced batteries, electrochemical capacitors, fuel cells and hydrogen production. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a PhD in chemical engineering from NC State University.  

Please join me in thanking Dr. Weidner for his willingness to step up and lead our academic enterprise during such pivotal times. I also want to reaffirm our thanks to Provost Nelson for helping us to sustain and scale our tremendous momentum.