About the Dean
Cynthia Y. Young
Founding Dean
Cynthia Y. Young became the Founding Dean of Clemson University’s new College of Science on Aug. 15, 2017. Under Young’s leadership, the College developed an aspirational 2026 strategic plan, recently updated as Accelerate Science, focused on elevating Clemson’s local relevance and global impact through excellence in scientific discovery integrated with learning and engagement. Dean Young and the Science Leadership Team are focused on three key goals: increasing national and global impact through excellence in scientific discovery, enhancing science learning experiences that elevate lives and livelihoods, and amplifying engagement with science to build a better future.
The SCIENCE team of faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends, and its industry partners have had significant collective impact:
- Increased student success with freshman retention and graduation rates continuing to increase.
- Increased faculty success and recognition as evidenced by the increase in papers/citations/external funding/Ph.D. students per T/TT faculty and the percentage of faculty elected as fellows which continue strengthening Clemson’s R1 culture.
- Increased philanthropic (annual giving, unrestricted giving, and endowment) to support strategic initiatives.
Young has worked to strengthen the culture of the power of strategic partnerships with the new School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences partnering with the College of Business and industry partners in a new Data Science Analytics Program; partnering with the Greenwood Genetics Center and the Self Family Foundation to recruit Clemson’s first National Academy of Sciences Fellow to lead and build the team at Clemson University’s new Center for Human Genetics; developing “3+2” partnerships in physics and mathematics with S.C. State University to strengthen the STEM pipeline and give students a more cost-effective pathway to a graduate degree; and partnering with Athletics to increase South Carolina citizen science literacy through Science outreach at Clemson’s spring football games.
She believes that diversity makes us smarter as we tackle tomorrow’s greatest scientific challenges and prepare the next generation of leading scientists and has expanded the recruitment and engagement of our students and faculty who are traditionally underrepresented in science. As a land-grant university’s College of Science, Dean Young is focused on the positive impact in South Carolina and serves on the Board of Directors of SCBIO and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the S.C. Governors School for Science and Mathematics.
Prior to coming to Clemson, Young spent 20 years at the University of Central Florida where she served in several leadership roles, including vice provost for faculty excellence and UCF Global, associate dean for the College of Sciences, co-founder of UCF’s EXCEL program, the NCAA faculty athletics representative, and the faculty senate leadership team.
As an interdisciplinary scholar, Young developed mathematical models governing atmospheric effects in laser communication channels. Her scholarly impact has been recognized nationally by the Office of Naval Research with the Young Investigator Award, and she is a fellow of the International Society of Optics and Photonics. The author of more than 70 books and publications, Young secured continuous federal funding from 1999 through 2017 from the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation. While at UCF, Young was named a Pegasus Professor and recognized through many research, teaching and service awards.
