Remembering longtime SEAS dean George Lee

George C. Lee, SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Samuel P. Capen Professor and longtime dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, died Feb. 21 in Buffalo.

During his 17-year tenure as dean, Lee oversaw a period of tremendous growth in the engineering school, fostering advancements in research, education and outreach. He established key elements of the school’s identity. In 1989, he oversaw the change of the school’s name from Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences to School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and he guided the school’s move to its permanent home on the North Campus.

“George Lee is a cherished member of our School of Engineering and Applied Sciences community,” says Dean Kemper Lewis. “His leadership, character, wisdom and commitment to excellence are woven into the foundation of our institution. His legacy lives on in the school he helped build and the many lives he shaped along the way.”

A graduate of Lehigh University, Lee joined the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering in 1963 as an assistant professor, and later served as acting department chair from 1970-74 and chair from 1974-77. He was appointed dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1978 and served until 1995.

As dean, he grew the school’s research budget eightfold, to $20 million, and oversaw the formation of several programs, research centers and partnerships that continue today, including the Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence, the Center for Industrial Effectiveness, and Buffalo Engineering Awareness for Minorities.

"Lee touched many lives, professionally and personally,” says Andrei Reinhorn, professor emeritus in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. “He was a scholar first, with a great vision on how to steer activities, students and other scholars, leading innovation not only in his professional field but in multiple areas of science and engineering.”

After his tenure as dean, Lee turned his focus to his role as director of the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, now called MCEER. Lee and former President Robert Ketter had a vision to establish UB as a national leader in earthquake engineering.

The center was established in 1986, and Lee played a significant role in securing federal and matching state funding, which included a $25 million grant from the National Science Foundation, making UB home to the first NSF-sponsored national center of earthquake engineering research. T.T. (Larry) Soong, Emeritus SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, notes that the NSF grant at the time “was the largest research award ever received by the State University of New York system.”

Lee led MCEER as director from 1992 to 2003, and conducted extensive research and reconnaissance work to better understand the impacts of earthquakes on infrastructure and identify solutions. He infused aspects of the social sciences and public policy into the research agenda of the center, marking a significant departure from prior work in the United States, which had focused on the geotechnical and structural engineering of earthquake-resistant buildings, bridges and infrastructure.

“George Lee was a true visionary, establishing UB civil engineering as an international leader in the field of earthquake engineering,” says Alan Rabideau, professor and chair of the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering.

According to Mark Karwan, former SEAS dean and SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Lee’s impact stretched beyond engineering into areas many people didn’t see.

“When I was dean, he was truly amazing. He brought UB into the Association of American Universities, essentially,” Karwan says, noting that Lee’s work with MCEER elevated the school and UB onto the international stage.

By the time he retired in 2014, Lee’s research funding as a principal investigator over the course of his career had totaled $116 million. He mentored 20 postdoctoral fellows, supported more than 30 international visiting scholars and guided nearly 50 PhD students and 75 master’s students. Lee co-authored four books and published more than 250 papers on structural engineering and mechanics, steel structures and earthquake engineering.

A few of his numerous accolades include the UB Presidents Medal, the Nathan M. Newmark Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring from the NSF and the W.P. Yen Award for Lifetime Achievements in Bridge Earthquake Engineering from the International Association of Bridge Earthquake Engineering.

In addition to his profound impact in his various roles at UB, Lee’s colleagues describe him as gracious and amazing.

“I remember that a friend of mine was taking a new position that George wanted her to take. It had some risk, and may not continue to exist,” Karwan says. “He said, ‘don’t worry. I will catch you in the palm of my hand.’ He was amazing.”

A celebration of life service will be held in July in Buffalo. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the George and Grace Lee Scholarship Fund.