Division of Science & Technology

Dr. Vivian Incera joined CSI as Dean of the Division of Science and Technology in August 2016. Her academic career spans over 25 years as scholar and teacher in institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Her prior leadership experience included chairing three science departments at two universities and being the Elected Chair of the Texas Section of the American Physical Society. 

Dean Incera came to CSI from the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP), where she was a tenured Professor of Physics, and had served as Chair of the Physics Department from 2009 through 2013.  Immediately prior to her appointment at UTEP, she served for three years as Professor and Chair of Physics at Western Illinois University (WIU)-- and for one year, simultaneously as Interim Chair of the Department of Chemistry.  She held earlier faculty appointments at Florida International University and SUNY Fredonia.  In her leadership roles at both WIU and UTEP, Dr. Incera had a strong record of fostering research excellence and funding, increasing student success, developing partnerships with other institutions, and strengthening alumni relations.

An accomplished theoretical physicist, Dr. Incera has an extensive record of publications and grant support, including several awards from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.  Her research interests have included the interface of high-energy physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, and condensed matter, as well as more formal quantum field theory problems.  She received her B.S. in Physics from Havana University and her Ph.D. in Physics from the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow.

Dr. Incera’s accomplishments in enhancing student success, fostering diversity, and strengthening the research portfolio of the departments she chaired led to her being honored with the endowed Dr. C. Sharp Cook Chair in Physics at UTEP and with a national award in STEM leadership: the 2014 Women of Color Award for Leadership in College-level Promotion of Education, given by the Career Communication Group.