These 4 have serious brain power. WSU Tri-Cities interviews for top job

What do a chemist, an aerospace engineer, an electrical engineer and a brain scientist have in common?

They are all in the running to the be the next WSU Tri-Cities chancellor.

About seven months after Chancellor Keith Moo-Young announced plans to leave the school, an 18-member committee settled on four finalists.

The committee began meeting this summer and narrowed the field of candidates with the help of executive search firm Issacson, Miller.

Each of the candidates will visit the campus between Nov. 27 and Dec. 4.

They will meet with students, staff, faculty and the community at forums scheduled for 4 p.m. in the East Building’s auditorium.

Attendees will be able to submit comments about the finalists either after the events or online.

“We are very pleased with the exceptional caliber of these four individuals,” WSU President Kirk Schulz said.

The Tri-Cities campus is a vital part of the WSU system, Schulz said, and each of the candidates is qualified to lead it into the future.

The new chancellor is expected to start early next year.

S.K. Ramesh is the first visitor to the Tri-Cities campus Nov. 27.

The electrical engineer is the Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at California State University, Northridge, a position he has held since 2006.

Along with interests in high-speed optical communications system, Ramesh says has formed industry partnerships and supports increasing science, technology, engineering and math education.

He helped play host to one of four national White House STEM workshops in 2014.

Douglas Ray, a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory alumni, is visiting the campus Nov. 28.

He became the lab’s first director of strategic partnerships in 2015.

Ray acted as a liaison between the laboratory and universities, part of a 27-year career at the institution that included several administrative positions.

Laboratory leaders credited Ray’s leadership for helping to cement PNNL’s reputation as a leader in advanced computing, biological system science and chemical and materials science.

Ray earned his doctorate degree in chemistry at University of California, Berkeley.

Anthony Vizzini, the provost and senior vice president at Wichita State University, will follow Nov. 29.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate in aeronautics and astronautics has spent his career at universities across the county.

Vizzini started his professional career at the University of Maryland, where he eventually led the composites research laboratory.

He authored more than 100 articles and helped design and manufacture composite structures used in spacecraft and unmanned air vehicles.

Sandra Haynes is coming to the campus Dec. 4. She is the deputy provost of academic and student affairs at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

A graduate in experimental neurophysiology from Colorado State University, she has worked at the Denver school for more than 20 years.

Haynes, who is in charge of all of the academic units, was a first-generation, low-income student.

She emphasized the importance of the school to be part of the community it serves.

This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 7:05 PM with the headline "These 4 have serious brain power. WSU Tri-Cities interviews for top job."