University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering

Sunil Kumar

[title]

For outstanding leadership and innovation in the field of education and demonstration of the importance of engineering in the world of business.

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at The Johns Hopkins University

  • BS, 1986, Engineering, Mangalore University
  • MS, 1991, Computer Science and Automation, Indian Institute of Science
  • PhD, 1996, Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois

As the provost and senior vice president of The Johns Hopkins University, Sunil Kumar is responsible for promoting and coordinating the university’s teaching and research mission. He oversees the university’s nine schools as well as several interdisciplinary programs and academic centers.

Before joining the administration at The Johns Hopkins University, Sunil served as dean of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, as well as the George Pratt Shultz Professor of Operations Management. During his tenure at Chicago, Sunil concentrated on broadening and strengthening the intellectual footprint of the business school, including expanding the faculty, supporting increasingly diverse student aspirations, and extending the reach of the school's programs. He forged stronger relationships with alumni and disseminated the school's intellectual capital more efficiently.

Before joining the Booth School of Business, Sunil spent 14 years on the faculty at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he was the Fred H. Merrill Professor of Operations, Information, and Technology. He also served as senior associate dean for academic affairs, overseeing the school's MBA program and leading faculty groups in marketing and organizational behavior.

Sunil’s research includes performance evaluation and control of manufacturing systems, service operations, and communications networks. In particular, Sunil studies systems affected by stochastic variability via mathematical models. He also studies the application of optimization methods and control theory to managerial problems. In 2013, Sunil was honored with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award.

Sunil holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Mangalore University in Surathkal, and a master’s degree in computer science and automation from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. He also holds a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.