Forrest Masters, Ph.D., P.E. (FL), has been named the Oregon State University Kearney Dean of Engineering.

Masters has served as interim dean of engineering at the University of Florida since 2023 and has held multiple leadership positions throughout his career. He founded one of seven natural hazards engineering research facilities in the same National Science Foundation program that supports the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory, housed at Oregon State. While at Florida, he also served as associate dean for research and facilities and led strategic initiatives in the Office of Research as an assistant vice president.

Masters, who will join Oregon State on July 14, will step into his new position as dean at an excellent time for Oregon State and the College of Engineering. Over the past five years, the College has seen substantial growth in externally funded research expenditures ($59.3M to $84.8M), enrollment (9,347 to 11,128 total students), and private giving ($20.5M to $30.7M).

The College is also poised to play a significant role in the university’s new strategic plan, Prosperity Widely Shared, which focuses on big discoveries that drive big solutions, increasing student graduation rates, and fueling a thriving world.

Leadership at the University of Florida

At Florida, Masters led one of the largest and most dynamic engineering colleges in the Association of American Universities (AAU), with 20 degree programs that serve more than 12,000 students. His oversight included recruitment, development, and retention for more than 700 employees, including almost 400 faculty, and managing a $159M operational budget and $105 million in externally funded research expenditures.

Guided by UF’s “Forward and Up” campaign, which engaged all faculty and staff to develop a community-informed strategic plan, Masters has undertaken numerous initiatives, including the creation of a new experiential learning center, strengthening of state and federal relations, implementation of a holistic corporate engagement model, and the launch of multiple cross-college research initiatives. In 2023, UF’s engineering college commissioned 92,000 square feet of space in the university’s equivalent of the Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex, the Malachowsky Hall for Data Science and Information Technology.

Academic and Research Contributions

Masters earned his Ph.D. in structural engineering at UF in 2004. Before serving in leadership roles at UF, Masters held the position of professor of civil and coastal engineering. His research has focused on the effects of extreme weather on the built and natural environments, supported by field reconnaissance in storms, including the deployment of instrumentation in the path of hurricanes until landfall. He has received support from more than 40 grants from state, federal, and private sources, including the NSF CAREER Award. He has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings and given more than 100 invited presentations.