Siena College Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Margaret E. Madden announced the appointment of John Cummings, Ph.D., as the dean of the School of Science today. Cummings served as interim dean for the past year.
"I am delighted that Dr. Cummings emerged as the candidate of choice in our national search for dean of the School of Science,” Dr. Madden said. “He is an intelligent and astute leader with a background as an excellent teacher and nationally recognized researcher. He will enhance Siena's already superb programs in the sciences and our growing offerings in healthcare careers."
A globally honored scientist, Cummings is part on an international team that was recognized in November with the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for ongoing work done with the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment.
Cummings has served as a physics professor at Siena since 2008.
“I'm truly excited to continue as the dean of the School Science at Siena,” Cummings said. “The faculty here is tremendous, and I look forward to collaborating with them to ensure our students receive a dynamic education that will prepare them to make a difference in the world. In the interim position, I've developed excellent relationships with administration and staff. We have a great foundation to build on.”
Cummings has more than 30 years of experience in academic and research settings, focusing on interaction physics, particularly meson spectroscopy. His current collaborative project investigates neutrino oscillations, revealing a new frontier beyond, and possibly far beyond, the standard model of particle physics.
Before joining the Siena community, Cummings spent 11 years at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as an assistant research professor and postdoctoral research assistant. He conducted his initial postdoctoral research work at UMass Dartmouth from 1995-97.
Cummings has been awarded two National Science Foundation (NSF) grants to support his work at Daya Bay totaling over $400,000. He has produced more than 200 journal publications and 19 conference publications over the past 22 years.
Cummings holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Johns Hopkins University, a master’s degree in physics from UMass Dartmouth, and a doctoral degree in physics from Rice University. His thesis work in particle physics was done at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Cummings will oversee Siena’s acclaimed School of Science where faculty and students are working together on innovative research in numerous areas including artificial intelligence, astronomy, physics, robotics, and science education—much of which is funded by the NSF and NASA.
