Washington State University Tri-Cities officials announced the third candidate for the university's vacant chancellor position Wednesday afternoon.

H. Keith Moo-Young, dean of the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology at California State University-Los Angeles, will visit the Richland campus Feb. 28 for interviews and a public forum, according to a news release.

WSU Tri-Cities, which has about 1,400 students and is one of three urban campuses in the WSU system, has searched for a new chancellor since Vicky Carwein left last summer for the chancellor's position at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

James R. Pratt, vice chancellor for academic affairs, has been interim chancellor since Carwein left.

A 17-member search committee appointed by WSU President Elson S. Floyd has worked with consultants to find a new chancellor in time for the 2013-14 academic year.

About 30 to 40 candidates were considered in late November. Committee members said it was a strong pool to choose from.

Moo-Young arrived at Cal State L.A., which enrolls about 17,300 undergraduate students and employs about 2,000 people, in 2006. Prior to that he was associate dean of research and graduate studies at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

Moo-Young holds degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Pennsylvania and Morgan State University. He is a licensed professional engineer by training and has researched solid and hazardous waste management, environmental containment and remediation technologies.

Moo-Young will meet with the search committee, administrators, faculty and students, as well as local business leaders during his visit.

He'll make a presentation at the public forum before taking questions from the audience.

The forum is from 12:10 to 1:15 p.m. in the auditorium of the East Building on the Richland campus. Community members are encouraged to attend.

The two other chancellor candidates, Karla Hughes of Morehead State University and Ronald Brown of Wayne State University, already have made public visits.