Jin Wen
Jin Wen, PhD, professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering, has been appointed to the role of Associate Dean for Faculty Advancement. She will assume the role effective July 1, 2022.
In announcing the appointment, Dean Sharon Walker, PhD, explained that the role will “support the growing demands of our academic community and develop and implement strategies to promote a sense of belonging, respect, inclusion and diversity within Drexel Engineering.”
Wen will oversee all faculty lifecycle events, tenure and promotion, the Dean’s Fellow Program, the Drexel Engineering Faculty Development series and faculty working groups. Her role also includes acting as chair of the Policy and Procedure Committee and of the Drexel Engineering Awards Committee, as well as co-chair of the Drexel Engineering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
The position of Associate Dean for Faculty Advancement is an outgrowth of work started by Caroline Schauer, PhD, associate dean for research and faculty affairs. Wen says that Schauer has set an outstanding example for her new role.
“The college has started many excellent pathways that I want to work on, most especially in the area of faculty mentorship,” Wen says. “With our cluster-hiring initiative, which brings faculty on in groups based on strategic areas of research, it is critical that we support the growth of these multidisciplinary faculty in a way that aligns closely with their needs, especially if it does not follow the traditional kind of mentorship .”
Wen sees her style as being collaborative, and she hopes to meet with faculty across the college in the coming months and throughout her tenure to learn directly from them what they need.
“Drexel has the very best faculty anywhere in the world, period,” she says. “Many of us are the top-notch researchers in our fields. The question is how to empower junior faculty to reach their full potential and how to promote senior faculty and secure them the recognition and awards that they deserve. This will be an important part of my role going forward.”
Wen joined Drexel in 2003 in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering (CAEE). She has served on multiple CAEE and college-level tenure and promotion committees as well as on the University-level Tenure Appeals committee, and brings a notable amount of experience to this role. Wen also promotes woman and minority junior researchers in her field through organizing career workshops. She is actively engaged in teaching and research in the architectural engineering disciplines, and develops machine learning and artificial intelligence based strategies to transform building control, operation and commissioning for grid-interactive efficient buildings.
Wen’s research has been continuously funded by federal sources, such as NSF, DoE and NIST, as well as by industry, including the American Society of Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). She currently serves as a member of ASHRAE’s Research Administration Committee, which oversees and coordinates all ASHRAE research activities. Wen is the Task Leader for International Energy Agency’s Energy in Buildings and Communities Annex 81 (Data-Driven Smart Buildings) Task C (Applications) and an associated editor for ASME Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities. She is past chair of ASHRAE Technical Committee 7.5 (Smart Building Systems). Wen was selected as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar for 2019-2020 (Sweden). She holds a Ph.D. from The University of Iowa, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.