Gene Cilento

Gene served as the inaugural Hiner Dean of the Statler College for 19 years. In July 2019 he became Dean Emeritus. While dean he implemented numerous strategies to promote recruitment, retention, especially women and underrepresented minorities, and faculty diversity. He developed an exciting learning environment that enhanced the college’s academic and national reputation.

During his tenure, enrollment and graduation numbers, faculty size, and research funding increased significantly; and he successfully completed two major capital campaigns, investing over $100 million in facilities, including a new ESB addition and the AERB. The college was renamed after Benjamin M. Statler in 2012, and two departments were named during campaigns. Gene has been on the ChE faculty since 1979 and served as department chair from 1988-99. He also was a research professor in the School of Medicine from 1978-2014.

He was very active on the ASEE Engineering Deans Council, and is a member of AIChE and Biomedical Engineering Society among others. He is a member of the WV Golden Key Society and Tau Beta Pi, an AIChE Professional Promise Awardee, and college Researcher and Outstanding Professor of the Year.

His research focus is in microcirculatory transport phenomena to study organs, tissues, and cells. He developed a WVU Robotics Center with NASA in 2009 for servicing orbital satellites that continues to prosper. His teaching interests included transport phenomena and thermodynamics.

A native of New York City, he earned his BSChE from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and his MS and PhD from the University of Cincinnati. His children Salvatore, Regina, and Dominic are all WVU graduates, and he has five grandchildren.