Thanassis Rikakis will serve as the new dean of the Iovine and Young Academy starting August 23, according to a memorandum sent to the USC community Thursday. 

Rikakis is currently a professor in bioengineering and performing arts at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. As a researcher, he studies systems design, engineering and arts with an emphasis on interactive neurorehabilitation, adaptive learning, experiential media and cyber-human intelligence. 

He also served as Virginia Tech’s Executive Vice President and Provost. During his time there, Rikakis established programs at the intersection of higher education and innovation. He also co-leads the university’s Carilion Smart Rehabilitation Lab and Interactive Neurorehabilitation Lab, where they use technology to help advance rehabilitation in clinics and homes. Rikakis will assume leadership from Willow Bay, the interim dean of IYA and dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.  

“Throughout his career, Thanassis Rikakis has been passionate about connecting creativity and technology — and seeing the overlap among diverse disciplines, from the arts to engineering,” USC President Carol Folt said, according to USC News. “As a musician, engineer and educator, he erased lines separating academic disciplines through his spirit of reimagination. That spirit aligns directly with the academy’s mission at the intersection of art, entrepreneurship, tech and communication.”

In addition to engineering, Rikakis has an extensive background in music. He had an arts-focused education in the United Kingdom, received a BA in Music Composition from Ithaca College and earned postgraduate degrees in music composition at Columbia University, where he worked as an adjunct assistant professor of music. Rikakis also composed 30 original music compositions that have been performed globally. 

“Many of us who were in music in the ’80s and ’90s, as personal computing and digital media started growing, were uniquely positioned to humanize computer knowledge and to then connect that to education,” Rikakis told USC News. “Anybody who learns music learns logical structures, mathematical structures and communication structures that can apply to any field if you can figure out how to transfer that knowledge.”

USC News reported that Provost Charles Zukoski believes Rikakis’ experience lines up well with IYA’s mission and is confident that he can help pave a bright future for the school. 

“Technology, design and business creation are being integrated in new ways at the Iovine and Young Academy,” Zukoski told USC News. “Dr. Rikakis has a vision for how these areas can be fused to create distinct educational pathways critical to the success of the academy and the future of higher education.”

As Rikakis steps into his new role, he commends IYA founders Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young and inaugural dean Erica Muhl for cultivating a unique, forward-thinking community in higher education.

“I’m really excited to be coming to such a well-structured, forward-looking initiative,” Rikakis said, according to USC News. “Creating a space for people who learn differently is going to be a major goal for education in the 21st century, whether at the college level or the high school level. Those people can be catalysts for how we expand the knowledge vocabulary.”

USC announces Thanassis Rikakis as new IYA dean