Campus Leadership

John Ting became the Dean of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in July 2003, having previously been Professor and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UMass Lowell (1999-03).  Before coming to Lowell in 1990, he was a tenured Associate Professor at the University of Toronto (1983-90) and postdoctoral Research Fellow and Lecturer at the California Institute of Technology (1981-83).

John Ting has been involved in teaching, research and software development in civil & environmental engineering since the late 1970s and, more recently, in engineering education, recruiting and retention.  For his recent work on incorporating service-learning into engineering as a means to improve student learning while fostering meaningful community engagement, he was awarded the 2006 President’s Public Service Award from the University of Massachusetts system.  He was elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2008.

Dr. Ting has published more than 45 refereed papers and reports and presented more than 25 seminars and conference papers. He has helped obtain and directly participated in externally funded research in geotechnical engineering, exceeding $1.7 million on topics ranging from lateral pile behavior, centrifuge modeling of frost action, discrete element numerical modeling of granular materials and analysis of integral abutment bridges and exceeding $1.1  million on incorporating service-learning in engineering education.   He has taught more than 20 different undergraduate and graduate courses in civil engineering and computer programming at Caltech, University of Toronto and UMass Lowell.

Dr. Ting graduated from McGill University (1975) with a B.Eng. in Civil Engineering as the E. Brown Gold Medal holder for Highest Ability in the Faculty of Engineering. He holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering (1976) from the California Institute of Technology, where he worked with Prof. R.F. Scott on geotechnical centrifuge modeling of laterally loaded piles. He holds a Doctor of Science in Civil Engineering (1981) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on the mechanical behavior of frozen sands under the supervision of Drs. C.C. Ladd and R.T. Martin.

Since becoming Dean of Engineering, Dr. Ting has continued working on issues in recruiting and retention of students into engineering, science and technical fields.  He has actively promoted K-12 outreach activities and service-based multidisciplinary projects and activities for the College, as a means to help both recruiting and retention.

Dr. Ting has worked for a geotechnical consulting company in Montreal, Canada, and is a registered professional engineer in California.  In addition, he has coached MathCounts middle school teams for several Massachusetts school systems (Groton-Dunstable and Parker Charter Essential School, Devens) and in the mid-1990s helped direct and operate the Groton Chess Club, a chess club devoted to children.