Robert W Conn

Robert W. Conn, Ph.D., is President of The Kavli Foundation and widely recognized for his academic research and leadership, as well as his experience in the private sector. He is Dean Emeritus of the Jacobs School of Engineering and Walter Zable Professor of Engineering, Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego. He received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Pratt Institute, and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Science from the California Institute of Technology. Prior to his appointment as the Foundation’s President, he was from 2002 to 2008 a Managing Director at Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, an investment firm specializing in early stage high tech/IT and life science companies. As a managing director, he led investments and served on the boards of a number of private and public companies. As Dean of Engineering at UC San Diego from 1993 to 2002, he led the Jacobs School of Engineering through an unprecedented period of growth in faculty, students and reputation. From 1980 to 1993, Dr. Conn was Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at UCLA, and founder (in 1986) and first Director of UCLA’s Institute of Plasma and Fusion Research. From 1970 to 1979, he was Professor of Engineering Physics in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and director from 1974 to 1979 of the University’s Fusion Technology Institute. He held the Romnes Faculty Endowed Chair from 1977 to 1979.