Mingyan Liu, associate dean for academic affairs at University of Michigan Engineering and the T. C. Chang Professor of Engineering, has been appointed the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering, effective May 15, 2026.

Liu is also professor of electrical engineering and computer science, with tenure. An internationally recognized U-M researcher, Liu has been a member of U-M’s faculty since 2000 and has held major leadership roles across the College of Engineering.

“Mingyan Liu has earned the trust and respect of colleagues across her field and across the university,” said Laurie McCauley, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “She understands the excellence of Michigan Engineering and the responsibility that comes with leading it. I am confident she will guide the college with clarity, care and a strong sense of purpose.”

She replaces Karen A. Thole, who was appointed Aug. 1, 2024, and resigned to become the inaugural director of Penn State’s new National Security Institute. Liu’s three-year appointment will be approved under interim authority and will be reported to the Board of Regents at its May 21 meeting. Liu’s term will be effective through July 31, 2029.

Since June 2023, Liu has served as the College of Engineering’s associate dean for
academic affairs, a role that spans faculty recruiting and mentoring, promotion and tenure, honors and awards, faculty development and retention, and key components of academic resource planning.

Liu served as the chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 2018 to 2023, overseeing faculty hiring and advancement, academic planning and program growth. During her chair tenure, the department launched a new ECE master of engineering program with concentrations in machine learning/data science, autonomous systems and microelectronics and semiconductors.

Her leadership work has included policy development, faculty equity review efforts and initiatives supporting teaching faculty and mid-career coaching.

“In some sense, I feel like I grew up here. This is my home,” Liu said. “I am excited and energized. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to serve the college that I’ve known for so long—serving my community, my colleagues and our students.”

Liu said higher education is facing challenges, ranging from federal funding threats to the adoption of AI, but also opportunities.

“It’s critically important that a college like Michigan Engineering, as one of the leading engineering colleges in the country, actively engage and help set key agenda items for public higher education and define what it means in the next five to 10 years,” she said. “I feel very honored and humbled by the trust the university leadership has placed in me. I have full confidence in our faculty, staff and students to work together to take this college to new heights.”

As a researcher, Liu’s expertise spans optimal resource allocation, game theory, sequential decision theory, incentive design, and performance modeling and analysis.

In recent years, Liu’s work has increasingly focused on cybersecurity—cyber risk, and applying game and contract theory to develop incentive mechanisms that encourage stronger security behavior in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.

Liu is also the co-founder of QuadMetrics Inc., which commercialized the U-M-developed technology for predictive cybersecurity analytics.

She is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award and multiple U-M honors, including the Elizabeth C. Crosby Research Award (twice) and the Distinguished University Innovator Award, and is an IEEE Fellow and ACM member.

Liu earned her Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering and M.S. in systems engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, after completing her B.S. in electrical engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China.