Jelena Kovačević

William R. Berkley Professor & Dean
NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Member, Executive Board
American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Engineering Deans Council

Founder and Co-Chair
Northeast Regional Deans (NeRDs) Council

Fellow
IEEE and EUSIPCO

Co-Founder, Former Technical VP
xWaveforms

Jelena Kovačević became the Dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering in August 2018. She is the first woman to head the school since its founding in 1854 as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. 

Since her arrival, she has garnered numerous accolades, including inclusion on the City & State “Higher Education Power 50,” “Tech Power 50,” and “50 over 50” lists, as well as Crain’s “Notable Women in Tech” rankings. She has also been appointed to the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)  Engineering Deans Council Executive Board in which capacity she works with her fellow deans to provide vision and leadership on engineering research, education and engagement. Additionally, she is the founder and co-chair of the Northeast Regional Deans (NeRDs) council.

She received the Dipl. Electrical Engineering degree from the EE Department, University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1986, and the MS and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University, New York, NY, in 1988 and 1991, respectively. From 1991-2002, she was with Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ. She was a co-founder and Technical VP of xWaveforms, based in New York City, NY. She was also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. In 2003, she joined Carnegie Mellon University, where she was the Hamerschlag University Professor, Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering.