Former Engineering Dean Named President of Kavli Foundation

March 16, 2009

Robert W. Conn was named president of the Kavli Foundation.

Robert W. Conn, a former dean of UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering, will become the new president of the Kavli Foundation—only the second president since the foundation was established in 2000. Conn will begin serving as president in late April of this year.

Conn is a renowned academic and business leader and a well-known scientist whose research is focused on plasma physics and fusion energy development. Most recently, he served as a managing director of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, a leading venture capital firm that has invested more than $1.1 billion in technology and life sciences companies.

Prior to Enterprise Partners, a 30-year career in academics and research included serving from 1993 to 2002 as dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. While dean, he led the school through a period of unprecedented growth both in scale and reputation, helping establish what is today among the top-ranked engineering schools in the United States. Before joining UCSD, Conn was professor of Applied Science at UCLA and, earlier, the Romnes faculty professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He founded the Institute of Plasma and Fusion Research at UCLA and co-founded the Fusion Energy Institute at the University of Wisconsin. He also is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, as well as a fellow of both the American Physical Society and the American Nuclear Society.

"I am delighted and excited to be joining Fred Kavli and team at The Kavli Foundation to help advance the Foundation's vision and mission," said Conn. "In a short period of time, the foundation has established remarkable institutes around the world, each focused on the creation of basic knowledge in four fundamental scientific fields. The foundation has more recently established with Norway the highly prestigious Kavli Prizes, whose inaugural year 2008 successfully celebrated the achievements of seven distinguished scientists. I look forward to the challenge of sustaining the mission and vision of Fred Kavli and the foundation, and to working with the extraordinary partners of the foundation, from universities to scientific academies worldwide who share this commitment to science."

Focusing on astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience and theoretical physics, the Kavli Foundation's many programs in support of science include establishing 15 research institutes at some of the world's most prestigious universities. The foundation is also the founding partner of the international Kavli Prizes, which honor scientists in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.

"Dr. Conn is a scientist whose many contributions to plasma physics, fusion energy and materials have been acknowledged and honored by his colleagues. He is also a leader and administrator whose accomplishments range from building one of the most successful engineering schools in the country to being a key member, as well as founder, of businesses dedicated to the applications of science," said Fred Kavli, founder and chairman of The Kavli Foundation.  "We look forward to Dr. Conn providing the same innovative leadership at the Foundation that has been the cornerstone of his success throughout his career."

In addition to his academic and business contributions, Conn has served on many advisory committees for the National Research Council, the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Congress and executive branch agencies of the U.S. Government, particularly the Department of Energy. He has served as chair of the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee of the DOE and, in the late 1990's, as chair of the Los Alamos National Laboratory's Physics Division Advisory Committee. He is currently a member of the University of California President's Advisory Committee on Science and Innovation.