Indian American named chancellor of Univ of California, San Diego

Indian American Pradeep Khosla, an IIT alumnus, has been named the eighth Chancellor of University of California (UC), San Diego.

Khosla, 55, is currently working as the Dean of College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

UC President Mark Yudof made the announcement of Khosla's appointment, which will be confirmed by the university Board of Regents on May 16, Lynn Tierney, UC’s vice-president of communications, told India-West.

Khosla is expected to be confirmed without opposition from the board, she said, adding that he will hold a press conference at the UC San Diego campus on May 19 to discuss his new role.

Neither Yudof nor Khosla can comment on the appointment until after the May 16 confirmation, Tierney said.

“In slightly more than 50 years, UC San Diego, under the leadership of Marye Anne Fox and her predecessors, has become one of the world’s top universities,” Khosla said in a press statement.

Khosla, originally from Mumbai, has earned his MS and PhD degrees in electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon in 1984 and 1986 respectively, after graduating from an Indian Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1980 and working for two years in India as an engineer.