In 2001 he returned to his alma mater to become Dean of the College of Engineering and Eckis Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. During his tenure as Dean (2001-2009), the number of Ph.D.s awarded (189 during his final year) enjoyed a nearly 100 percent increase. As Dean, he also developed an ambitious strategic plan to elevate the ranking of the College of Engineering, and succeeded in moving it up to 25 (15 among public universities) from 35 (20 among public universities). In collaboration with the College’s faculty, in 2002 he also created a Biomedical Engineering Department, which in 2009 moved into the new interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences Building, which he collaborated with the UF College of Medicine to create. Among his other accomplishments during his tenure as Dean, total research expenditures at the College of Engineering grew from about $65 million to more than $109 million.