UCSB holds dedication event for Robert Mehrabian
Hundreds of people, including Nobel Laureates, former and current faculty and many more, gathered at UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 3 as the university held a dedication event honoring Robert Mehrabian and unveiling the new sign outside the Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering building.
UCSB named its engineering school The Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering on June 12, 2025.
Mehrabian, who is the executive chairman of Thousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies, served as the dean of the College of Engineering from 1983 to 1990. Mehrabian is lauded for being a visionary who laid the cornerstone for the enduring success of the college. During his tenure, he recruited 69 faculty members, including his last hire, current dean of engineering Umesh Mishra.
Mishra, started the festivities, calling the day “a special occasion, not just for our college, but the entire UC Santa Barbara community.”
Mishra noted that 21 of Mehrabian’s 69 hires at UC Santa Barbara went on to become members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, or the Royal Society.
“When Robert arrived at UC Santa Barbara in 1983, the College of Engineering was still relatively young. He saw what a relatively small engineering college could achieve by recruiting exceptional people in carefully chosen domains and Robert was extraordinarily good at finding people, those exceptional people,” Mishra said.
Former and current chancellor, Henry Yang and Dennis Assanis, respectively, both delievered remarks during the event.
Assanis said of Mehrabian that he “has never met anyone quite like him.”
“He’s an academic visionary, but at the same time a titan of industry. You don’t find that combination,” he said.
Yang praised Mehrabian as well, saying that his contributions allowed the university to become the powerhouse in research and engineering that it is today. Yang served as chancellor from 1994 to 2025 and was the Dean of Engineering for 10 years at Purdue University before joining UCSB.
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost and Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature David Marshall also delivered remarks.
Mehrabian was thankful for the attendance and shared stories of his successes and even failures during his time on stage. He noted that his goal at building UC Santa Barbara was the same as the one he adopted at Teledyne, where he served as CEO from 2000 to 2018, by making a slew of acquisitions and bringing in talent at specifically targeted areas one at a time.
Others in attendance were Nobel Laureates Shuji Nakamura, Alan Heeger and Michel Devoret, as well as Teledyne president and CEO George Bobb III, president of Teledyne Space Imaging Megan Tremor, and important UCSB faculty such as professors John Bowers, Steven DenBaars.
