Rate My Professor Yannis Yortsos

Yannis C. Yortsos is the Dean of the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering and holder of the Zohrab Kaprielian Dean's Chair in Engineering since 2005. He also holds the Chester F. Dolley Professorship in Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Engineering. Yortsos earned his Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 1973, an M.S. in 1974, and a Ph.D. in 1979, both in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. Joining USC in 1978 as Assistant Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, he advanced to Associate Professor in 1984 and Professor in 1990, chaired the Department of Chemical Engineering from 1991 to 1997, and served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2001 to 2003 and Senior Associate Dean from 2003 to 2005. His research focuses on fluid flow, transport, and reaction processes in porous media, with applications to oil and gas recovery, geothermal energy, and subsurface remediation. Key publications include "Pressure-transient analysis of fractal reservoirs" (SPE Formation Evaluation, 1990), "Transport of particulate suspensions in porous media: model formulation" (AIChE Journal, 1987), "Application of fractal geometry to the study of networks of fractures and their pressure transient" (Water Resources Research, 1995), and "The dynamics of in-situ combustion fronts in porous media" (Combustion and Flame, 2003).

A member of the National Academy of Engineering since 2008, Yortsos served on its Council from 2017 to 2023 and is Editor-in-Chief of PNAS Nexus since 2022. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Associate Member of the Academy of Athens (2013), and Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (2024). Major awards include the NAE Bernard M. Gordon Prize (2022) for co-founding the Grand Challenges Scholars Program (2009), ASEE President’s Award (2017), Ellis Island Medal of Honor (2014), Los Angeles Area Emmy for "Lives, not Grades" (2022), and ABET Claire L. Felbinger Award (2024). As dean, he has driven the Engineering+ initiative, achieved gender balance in incoming classes since 2019, chaired the Engineering Deans Council Diversity Committee (2012-2017), and served on the NSF Engineering Advisory Committee (2017-2020).