Microsystems Innovator Marc P. Christensen Named President of Clarkson University

Marc P. Christensen, dean of Southern Methodist University’s (SMU) Lyle School of Engineering and the Bobby B. Lyle Professor of Engineering Innovation, was named the 17th president of Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y.

Marc P. Christensen. Courtesy of SMU.

Christensen will begin leading Clarkson July 1. He succeeds Anthony G. Collins.

Christensen has co-authored more than 100 journal and conference papers. He began his professional career as a technical leader in BDM’s Sensors and Photonics Group, now part of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. In 1997, he co-founded Applied Photonics, a free-space optical interconnection module company that provided hardware demonstrations for multiple DARPA programs. He currently holds 10 U.S. patents.

Christensen is the developer of Panoptes, a compact, lightweight, high-resolution smart camera that supports iris recognition.