Dr. David Borrok, chair of geosciences and geological and petroleum engineering (GGPE), has been named interim associate dean for research in the College of Engineering and Computing. The appointment became effective Aug. 1.

“The associate dean position is an opportunity for me to help connect people by building collaborative networks internally and establishing new partnerships externally,” Borrok says. “I am excited to get started.”

Borrok came to Missouri S&T in 2017 from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he was inaugural director of the school of geosciences. He also served as interim director of the Institute for Coastal Ecology and Water Research at Louisiana-Lafayette.

Borrok earned a bachelor’s degree in geology and geophysics from Missouri S&T, a master’s degree in economic geology from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in geomicrobiology and geochemistry from the University of Notre Dame.

Borrok assumes the associate dean role following the departure of Dr. Angela Lueking, who served as associate dean for research at Missouri S&T since August 2018 and also held a faculty position in the Doshi Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. Lueking will become vice chancellor for research and dean of the graduate school at Montana Technological University in Butte, Montana.

“I admire Dr. Lueking’s work as associate dean at Missouri S&T for the past three years,” says Dr. Rich Wlezien, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing. “She has been an exceptional colleague and has worked tirelessly to build our research enterprise. She has been an outstanding mentor to our junior faculty, and I know she will excel at Montana Tech.”

Dr. Jeffrey Cawlfield, a professor of geological engineering and former GGPE chair, is serving as interim chair of GGPE effective Aug. 1. He has been a member of the Missouri S&T faculty since 1987.