Dr. Nancy L. Allbritton joined the University of Washington as the Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering in November 2019. In this role, she serves as the chief academic officer of the College — a top-15 nationally ranked public university program with annual research expenditures exceeding $159 million — and provides leadership to over 279 faculty and more than 8,000 students. Under her leadership the College launched an inclusive and wide-ranging strategic planning effort; advanced initiatives to build an inclusive and equitable environment for learning, research, service and outreach; and furthered plans to construct a student focused new facility, the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building, to help address growth in student enrollment.

Allbritton is an international expert on multiplexed single-cell assays, microfabricated platforms for high-content cytometry combined with cell sorting, and microengineered stem-cell-based systems for recapitulating human organ-level function. Four companies have been formed based on her research discoveries: Protein Simple (acquired by Bio-Techne in 2014), Intellego, Cell Microsystems, and Altis Biosystems. Allbritton holds an appointment in the UW’s Department of Bioengineering. She has been nationally recognized for her research and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors.