UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Thomas F. La Porta, director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Penn State, has been named interim Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering, effective July 1.
La Porta will succeed Tonya Peeples, who is stepping down from her role as dean to serve as a special adviser to the executive vice president and provost, helping to shape the creation of a new office of student success at Penn State. Peeples also will continue serving on the college’s faculty.
“I am extremely pleased that Dr. La Porta will be stepping into this critical leadership role at a defining moment for the College of Engineering,” said Fotis Sotiropoulos, Penn State executive vice president and provost. “Engineering is a core strength here at Penn State. However, the environment in which we operate is increasingly competitive, and peer institutions are moving aggressively to strengthen their positions. I am confident that Dr. La Porta’s experience, collaborative approach and commitment to excellence will help drive the focus and momentum needed to strengthen the college’s rankings, enhance its reputation, and position it is as a leader in engineering research and education.”
La Porta, who was bestowed the title of Evan Pugh University Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering in 2016, has been a member of the Penn State faculty since 2002. From 2012 to 2023, he served as the William E. Leonhard Chair in Engineering at Penn State. La Porta became director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2016, after previously serving as the founding director of the Institute of Networking and Security Research at Penn State. He also led a Department of Defense-funded center on network science that included more than 20 faculty from multiple institutions.
“I’ve dedicated much of my career to Penn State and the College of Engineering, and I care deeply about its people and its future,” La Porta said. “Engineering education — and the broader higher education landscape — is changing rapidly and becoming increasingly competitive. This is a moment for us to come together, lean into change, and take meaningful steps forward as a college. I truly believe that engineers, more so than any other profession, are critical to solving the many problems facing our world today; helping to produce the next generation of highly trained engineers is our great responsibility. By capitalizing on new opportunities for our students, our teaching and our research, we can advance our mission and achieve even greater excellence across the full scope of the college’s work.”
Before transitioning to academia, La Porta spent 17 years at Bell Laboratories, including a leadership role as director of the Mobile Networking Research Department at Lucent Technologies, where he led projects focused on wireless and mobile networking. He also spent seven years as an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University, teaching courses on mobile networking and protocol design.
His professional achievements include recognition as an IEEE Fellow and Bell Labs Fellow, along with honors such as the Bell Labs Distinguished Technical Staff Award, the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer Award, the Faculty Teaching Award in the Penn State Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and two Thomas Alva Edison Patent Awards. His research focuses on wireless networks, cybersecurity and distributed intelligent systems.
In addition to his research and leadership roles, La Porta has made significant editorial and service contributions to the field. He was the founding editor-in-chief of the journal IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing and also served as editor-in-chief of IEEE Personal Communications Magazine. He has held leadership positions within the IEEE Communications Society, including serving as director of magazines and a member of its board of governors. Over the course of his career, La Porta has published extensively and holds 39 patents.
La Porta earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from The Cooper Union in New York and completed his doctorate in electrical engineering at Columbia University.