Joseph J. Helble '82 assumed the presidency of Lehigh University on August 16, 2021, as the institution's 15th president, and the second Lehigh engineering alumnus to serve in that role.
Over the course of his career, Helble has pursued research related to air pollution, carbon dioxide capture, and other impacts of fossil fuel use. He is author of over 100 publications in the areas of air pollution, aerosols, nanoscale ceramics, and air quality, and holds three US patents related to nanoscale powder production.
Prior to assuming the Lehigh presidency, Helble served as provost of Dartmouth College, following a 13-year tenure as dean of its Thayer School of Engineering. Under his leadership, Dartmouth became the first comprehensive research university in the nation to have more women graduate with a bachelor’s degree in engineering than men, and launched the first program in the nation to prepare engineering doctoral candidates for entrepreneurial success. Prior to arriving at Dartmouth, Helble served as professor and chair of chemical engineering at the University of Connecticut.
Helble was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2017. He is a co-recipient of the National Academy of Engineering’s 2014 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education for the design and implementation of Dartmouth’s Engineering Entrepreneurship Program. As the AAAS Roger Revelle Fellow, he worked on environmental and technology policy in 2004-05 as a staff member in the US Senate, and he received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 1998. He worked in the private sector for several years as a research scientist at Physical Sciences, Inc., during which time he spent several months on leave as a science policy fellow with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Learn more about President Helble at lehigh.edu/president.
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