Cornelius J. Pings Provost, 1981-1993

Cornelius (Neal) J. Pings, professor of chemical engineering, served as provost of the University of Southern California from 1981 to 1993, and as vice provost and dean of graduate studies at Caltech from 1970 to 1981. He was also president of the Association of American Universities from 1993 to 1998. Based in Washington, D.C., the AAU represents the nation’s major research universities.

In 1993, Pings was awarded USC's highest honor, the Presidential Medallion, for "his years of insightful and dedicated leadership that have left an enduring mark on the academic life of USC."

In awarding the Presidential Medallion, USC President Steven B. Sample said, "Neal Pings led the academic programs of this university during a period of significant advances in the quality of the university’s faculty and students. Throughout his tenure he exhibited extraordinary personal energy, integrity, clarity of thought, and rigorous standards of excellence. As president of the AAU, Neal Pings was an exemplary representative of USC as an advocate of research nationally and as an active leader in the local community. I count him as a true friend and a highly valued colleague."

In 1988, Pings was appointed chairman of the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, a joint committee of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, where he earned national attention in higher education circles. The committee, which was directly responsible to the councils of the three organizations, was charged with addressing the health of U.S. science and technology, working directly with the President's science adviser, the director of the National Science Foundation, the chairman of the National Science Board, the heads of other federal research and development departments and agencies, and the chairmen of key science- and technology-related committees of Congress.

From 1987 to 1989 Pings chaired an ad hoc committee for the AAU, which undertook a major review of "Indirect Costs Associated with Federal Support of Research on University Campuses." The report, which became known nationally as the "Pings Report," anticipated a number of contentious issues among government officials, faculty, and university administrators and offered suggestions for reform.

In 1994 - in light of a White House proposal that called for a one-year freeze on the amount universities could charge for overhead costs of federally sponsored research - Pings organized a group of university leaders to reexamine the issue of overhead costs. At the time, he blasted the proposal in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget, writing, "I assert that this action is bad science policy, bad public policy and flawed budgeting."

Pings came to USC in 1981 after serving as vice provost and dean of graduate studies at Caltech since 1970. He joined Caltech in 1959 as a professor of chemical engineering and chemical physics. From 1955 to 1959, he was a faculty member at Stanford University.

He earned a B.S. degree in applied chemistry and a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from Caltech in 1951 and 1955, respectively. In 1989, Pings was given that institute's highest honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award, which is bestowed for "high achievement in science, engineering, business, industry or public service."

During the 1977-78 academic year, Pings was president of the Association of Graduate Schools. From August 1978 through June 1980, he directed the National Commission on Research.

He served terms as a member of the boards of directors of the Council of Graduate Schools, the Council on Governmental Relations, and was president of the Western College Association.

A professor of chemical engineering, his scientific expertise was in the areas of applied chemical thermodynamics, statistical mechanics and liquid-state physics. In the summers of 1955, 1956 and 1957, Pings was a member of glaciological expeditions to Northern Greenland.

A resident of Pasadena, Calif., Pings is involved in various civic activities. As a member of the Pasadena Redevelopment Agency from 1968 through 1981, he was considered a major force in the revitalization of downtown Pasadena, and served as chairman of that body from 1974 to 1981. He was a member and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mayfield Senior School in Pasadena. In May 1981, Dr. Pings was presented the Arthur Noble Medal by the City of Pasadena. He is a member of the California Club, the Bohemian Club, the Twilight Club of Pasadena, the Valley Hunt Club, the Cosmos Club (Washington, D.C.) and the Athenaeum. In 2004 he received the highest honor given by the Los Angeles chapter of The Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick, the Medallion of Merit.

Pings was a founding director of the Pacific Horizon Funds in 1982; served through 1999; and was director/trustee, president, and chairman of the Board of the Bank of America mutual funds from 1996 through 1999. He was elected a director of the Nations Funds in 1999, for which he also serves on the Audit Committee. He was a director of the Farmers Group, Inc., in 1991-2000; for the latter he served as chairman of the Audit Committee for five years and as member of the Compensation and the Executive Committees; he served for one year on the Advisory Board for Farmers.

He was a director of the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1984-85 and the Maxtor Corporation in 1988-92. He was elected to the Board of Edelbrock, Inc. in May 2001 and serves on the Audit and Compensation Committees. He served on the Board of Amervest Company, Inc. 2001-02. Harvey Mudd College elected him as a trustee in 1998.

He reviewed the Central Business District Study for the City of Los Angeles on a blue-ribbon committee organized by Mayor Tom Bradley, and the mayor appointed him in 1985 to the executive committee of L.A. 2000. He served in 1992 as chairman of the Central City Association, which represents a cross-section of downtown Los Angeles businesses, from small merchants to some of the world’s largest corporations.

He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1981 and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and a member of the American Chemical Society. He served as chairman of the chemical engineering division of the American Society for Engineering Education in 1975.

Among the awards Pings has received are the Professional Progress Award (1969) and the Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research (1973) from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; the Lectureship Award (1969) from the Division of Chemical Engineering of the American Society for Engineering Education; and the Technical Achievement (1972) and Civic Achievement (1976) awards from the Southern California section of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. In 1975, Pings was named the first David M. Mason Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University and gave the Riley Lectures of Notre Dame in 1981. The Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1994 and the University of Notre Dame in 1999 awarded him honorary doctorates in engineering.

Pings recently served on three National Research Council committees, one dealing with undergraduate science and mathematics teaching, one on developing recommendations for management of research on the International Space Station, and one on research in the Smithsonian Institution. He chaired the latter two committees. He is still active as a consultant on research on the Space Station.

He has been active in the affairs of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, serving on both the education and finance committees. He was a member of the advisory committee for the new cathedral from the earliest planning stages. He is a Knight of Malta, and in 1998 the Pope appointed him Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory.

He and his wife Marjorie are both presidential members of the USC Associates, and he is a member of the Caltech Presidential Associates.