Who's Who at Penn: Gregory Farrington, Engineering Dean

Leading the way is Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington, who says he is committed to making the University technologically "elite." "Universities are in the business of knowledge, and the information age will provide us with a wide range of new opportunities for serving society more creatively and more effectively," he said last year. Farrington joined the University's Materials Science and Engineering Department in 1979 after a career as a research scientist at General Electric. After serving as the director of the University's Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, Farrington was named Engineering Dean in 1990. In January, Farrington offered the Board of Trustees an audio-visual glimpse of the educational potential on the Internet. His proposals have included courses via satellite and classroom discussions over PennNet, the University's own computer and data network. Farrington has also been involved in plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ENIAC -- the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer -- which is the world's first digital computer. ENIAC was designed at the Engineering School.