Distinguished chemical, biomedical engineer named dean of UIC College of Engineering

Omolola “Lola” Eniola-Adefeso, professor of chemical engineering, biomedical engineering and macromolecular science and engineering at the University of Michigan, has been named dean of the University of Illinois Chicago College of Engineering.  

Eniola-Adefeso is a highly respected chemical and biomedical engineer with over 25 years of professional experience. An accomplished scholar, she has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and secured millions of dollars in federal research funding. The appointment is effective Oct. 16 and subject to approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. 

She has a strong track record of adopting interdisciplinary approaches in her work, and her entrepreneurial successes have resulted in three patent filings, with one patent currently being licensed to a biotech company.  

She is also highly recognized in the scientific community, as shown by numerous national awards and her current leadership positions as the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering president and American Institute of Chemical Engineers director. She also participates in the National Academies Study Committee: Quadrennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. 

Eniola-Adefeso’s appointment will be “transformative for the college, our university and the University of Illinois System,” said Karen Colley, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at UIC. 

“I have every confidence that she will lead the College of Engineering to new levels of excellence by providing high-impact opportunities to our students and by enhancing cross-disciplinary work within UIC, between the U of I System universities and with local research and business partners,” Colley said. 

Eniola-Adefeso has championed efforts to increase diversity in the engineering field throughout her career. She led the multi-institutional NextProf engineering program, which aims to increase the number of PhD students and postdocs from traditionally underrepresented groups in engineering who are moving into academic careers.  

She also co-founded BME Women Faculty UNITE and helped plan and lead an inaugural summit of engineering deans from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Big 10+ engineering institutions in June 2024. 

Based at the University of Michigan since 2006, Eniola-Adefeso holds the Vennema Endowed Professorship and was named a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor. She is also the associate dean for graduate and professional education at the University of Michigan College of Engineering. 

She has held visiting professorships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago and the California Institute of Technology. 

Eniola-Adefeso received her PhD in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 

Eniola-Adefeso will succeed Peter Nelson, who has led the college since 2007 and will return to the faculty this year. Under Nelson’s leadership, the College of Engineering experienced significant growth over the last decade and now has over 6,200 students and 215 faculty in six academic departments.