Terri Anne Camesano

Terri Anne Camesano is the Dean of Graduate Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), a role she has held since 2014. She oversees graduate education programs across Engineering, Arts & Sciences, and Business, advocating for over 2,000 graduate students. Concurrently, she maintains a faculty position in Chemical Engineering. Her research focuses on bacterial adhesion, biofilms, and antimicrobial peptides, leveraging atomic force microscopy and QCM-D technologies. She leads the Camesano Lab, which has published extensively in journals like Biomacromolecules and Biointerphases.

Dr. Camesano holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Penn State University (2000), and dual BS degrees in Chemical Engineering and Environmental Science from the University of Rochester (1995). She has received numerous awards, including the NSF Career Award (2003) and ACE Fellow (2022-2023). Her academic leadership spans initiatives like the NSF IGERT program in Biofabrication (2012–2020), training interdisciplinary PhD students in Biomedical Engineering, Biology, and Physics.

Her research aligns with UN SDGs, particularly Good Health & Well-Being (SDG 3) and Quality Education (SDG 4), emphasizing antimicrobial innovation and STEM education. She has authored patents on antimicrobial matrix scaffolds and pioneered studies on cranberry bioactives’ anti-adhesive effects on uropathogenic bacteria.