Kenneth Ball

Kenneth S. Ball, Ph.D, P.E. is Dean of the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Since arriving at Mason in 2012, Ball has led the college through extensive growth and rapid change increasing research awards and expenditures, expanding enrollment, and establishing several first-of-their-kind programs to attract future generations of engineering and computing professionals.  

Under Ball’s leadership, the college’s ranking and reputation have improved. In the most recent U.S. News and World Report rankings of our nation’s Best Graduate Schools, the college climbed eleven places from a year ago to #82 – its highest ranking ever for the college. The college also made significant advancements in the 2020 NSF Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) rankings (the most recent rankings available). Research expenditures in Computer and Information Sciences ranked 12th among all universities, 8th among public institutions, and No. 1 in Virginia. Research expenditures in Engineering entered the top 100 nationally and is now at No. 92, jumping 50 spots from 142 in 2018, 69th among public universities. 

Ball helped the college keep pace with its strong growth in student enrollment, advocating for more faculty and staff. He led a proactive response to the needs of our students, placing a high priority on ensuring the college has the faculty to maintain student-faculty ratios to allow vigorous levels of student-faculty interaction and mentoring, to limit the number of large-enrollment classes, and to be able to offer all of the courses that students need to graduate, including elective courses. These efforts keep diversity and inclusion at the forefront by expanding access and inclusion. 

Ball’s service to engineering education led to him to chair ASEE’s Engineering Dean’s Council. He is recognized internationally for his research in computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer. He has chaired three international conferences, is a past associate technical editor of the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer and has served on several other engineering journal editorial boards. He is deeply involved in engineering program assessment and accreditation activities, both in the U.S. and internationally, particularly in the Middle East. He has obtained externally sponsored funding (excluding high-performance computing grants) more than $20M for projects and program development in mechanical engineering, including the thermal/fluid sciences and nuclear engineering.  

Prior to coming to Mason Ball served as the L.S. Randolph Professor and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech from 2004-12, Prior to his appointment at Virginia Tech, he served for 15 years on the mechanical engineering faculty at The University of Texas at Austin, where he was the Temple Foundation Endowed Faculty Fellow in Engineering.  

Research

2008 - 2020 : GMUF Volgenau Fund. Funded by George Mason University Foundation.

2012 - 2015 : GMUFVSE. Funded by George Mason Univ Foundation.

2012 - 2015 : GMUFVSE. Funded by GMU Foundation.

Research Interests

Mechanical Engineering

Degrees

• PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Drexel University
• MS, Mechanical Engineering, Drexel University
• BS, Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh University