The Landing School’s Board of Trustees recently named Richard J. Schuhmann as president.
A former student at The Landing School and currently a senior lecturer and program manager at MIT, Schuhmann’s tenure will begin Sept. 1. After an exhaustive search, Dr. Schuhmann was appointed on the unanimous recommendation of the Board of Trustees. He will succeed Bob DeColfmacker, who intends to retire while continuing to advise the school on strategy and major projects.
Dr. Schuhmann, 54, joined MIT in September 2012 as a senior lecturer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and in the Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program where he also served as the program manager of Engineering Leadership Programs for early and mid-career professionals.
He supervised graduate hydrologic research at MIT, assisting the Red Cross in the development of a flood early warning system for residents in the Manafwa River Basin in Uganda.
Outside of MIT, Dr. Schuhmann has been active as a consultant for the U.S. State Department, promoting innovation and engineering enterprise development in North Africa.
Before his appointment at MIT, he spent 15 years at Penn State University, where he was a faculty member in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Science-Technology-and-Society, and Engineering Design, and Director of Engineering Leadership from 2005-2012.
“The time I spent at The Landing School as a student, almost 30 years ago, prepared me not only to be a boat builder, but to think critically and creatively and become an effective engineer and teacher,” Schuhmann said in a statement. “At The Landing School I learned about discipline and hard work, but more importantly, I learned about the quest for excellence in craftsmanship and the meaning of community. My time at The Landing School was transformative and I am honored to return and once again become a working part of this remarkable community.”
