Jason Zara, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of biomedical engineering in the George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science (GW Engineering), has been named the school’s interim dean, effective July 1. Zara will serve in place of Dean John Lach, who was recently named interim provost of GW.
As associate dean for academic affairs, a role he has held since 2024, Zara oversees all aspects of GW Engineering’s undergraduate and graduate academic programs, student affairs and overall student experience. Zara has also served as associate dean for undergraduate studies, associate chair for academic affairs in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and as interim chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering.
From 2017-2021, Zara represented GW Engineering on GW’s Faculty Senate, during which time he served as chair and then co-chair of the Faculty Senate Educational Policy and Technology Committee.
“In over two decades at GW Engineering, Dr. Zara has become a seasoned administrative leader and scholar who has established valuable relationships with colleagues across the school,” Provost Christopher Alan Bracey said. “He is a natural choice to lead the school’s faculty, students and staff during this transition.”
Zara joined GW Engineering in 2002 as an assistant professor and has served in numerous ways at the departmental level. Between 2007-2008, he developed the new B.S./M.S. program in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and led the revision of the Biomedical Engineering undergraduate curriculum. In 2014 he developed and implemented GW’s Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering Program.
His excellence in the classroom was recognized in 2020 with the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize for Teaching Excellence.
“Dr. Zara is a tireless advocate for academic excellence and the student experience,” said Lach. “As associate dean for academic affairs, he takes personal responsibility for ensuring that all of our students have a world-class experience in our school—from cutting-edge curricula and effective pedagogies to formative research opportunities and extracurricular experiences. GW Engineering will be in very good hands.”
Zara is a biomedical engineer whose research includes optical/acoustic radiation imaging (OARI) and optical coherence tomography (OCT), a non-invasive imaging technique that uses light waves to create 3D images of the retina and other eye structures. He has worked as the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on more than 20 externally funded research projects through organizations including the National Science Foundation (NSF); the Army Research Laboratory; and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“I am humbled and honored to be selected to serve as the interim dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science,” Zara said. “GW Engineering is a vibrant community of talented faculty, staff and students, and I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to shepherd the school as we continue along our current path in achieving its research and educational missions.”
Zara has worked for many years in the development of novel imaging instrumentation and software to approach the detection and evaluation of epithelial cancers, epilepsy and other human diseases. He received the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Early Career Translational Research Award in 2006 for his work in microfabricated OCT scanners. He holds seven U.S. patents and previously founded two start-up companies, including a GW spin-off, Lumacoustic Systems, LLC.