The Faculty of Engineering is to get yet another Faculty Principal, with Professor John Wood, currently Chief Executive of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils, joining Imperial late summer 2007. Julia Higgins temporarily took the role last year following the departure of Julia King.

Professor Wood graduated from Sheffield in 1971 with a first class degree in materials, but it should be interesting to see what he makes of the RSM. He was Head of the Department of Materials and Dean of Engineering at the University of Nottingham in 1998, moving to the CCLRC in 2001.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Chair of the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures and was Chair of the Office of Science and Technology's Foresight on Materials panel from 1997 until 2001.

Imperial's Rector Sir Richard Sykes said: "This is the biggest academic engineering job in the UK and it demands enormous understanding of the environment in which all facets of this wide-ranging discipline are operating. I'm delighted that in John we have been able to attract one of the world's most influential professional engineers, with the stature necessary to represent this internationally leading Faculty on the world stage."

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