Jerome P. Lynch

Jerome P. Lynch is the Vinik Dean of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Lynch is an expert in the field of advanced sensing and information technologies for monitoring and control of civil infrastructure systems and is an advocate for community engagement in research. He is also a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) Engineering Mechanics Institute and led the University of Michigan’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as department chair from 2017 to 2021.

His research program advances cyber-physical system architectures that combine sensing, computing and control to create intelligent civil infrastructure systems. He is best known for his pioneering work in structural health monitoring that allows the performance and health of civil infrastructure systems to be assessed based on monitoring data to improve system safety and resilience. To elevate the impact of his research, he co-founded and directed the Urban Collaboratory at the University of Michigan, an interdisciplinary research institute that partners with community stakeholders to define challenges and to develop sustainable solutions based on smart city technologies and socially-engaged design methods.

His research and teaching accomplishments have been celebrated with several honors including the 2005 ONR Young Investigator Award, 2009 NSF CAREER Award, 2009 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 2012 ASCE Leonardo da Vinci Award, and 2014 ASCE Huber Award.

Lynch also has extensive experience commercializing engineering technologies. He holds three U.S. patents, has two patents pending and has founded two companies – Civionics and Sensametrics – to implement commercial applications of his research.

He earned his PhD (2002) in Civil and Environment Engineering, a Master’s (1998), in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and a Master’s (2003) in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He also received his BE in Civil and Environmental Engineering (1997) from the Cooper Union in New York City.