Office of the Provost

Provost Francis J. Doyle III

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Provost Francis J. Doyle III

An accomplished engineer and academic leader, Francis “Frank” J. Doyle III has served as Brown University’s 14th provost since July 2023.

Frank Doyle, Provost
Francis J. Doyle III

As Brown’s chief academic officer, Doyle is second in seniority at the University and serves as an essential partner to the president, working closely with senior deans, the faculty and other administrative colleagues to advance Brown’s commitment to the liberal arts and distinctive interdisciplinary approach to education and research.

Prior to his role at Brown, Doyle served as John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor and the John A. Paulson Dean of the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at Harvard University, from 2015 to 2023.

Before Harvard, Doyle was Mellichamp Professor at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering. He also served as director of the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (led by UCSB in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology), and as associate dean for research in the UCSB College of Engineering.

Doyle holds a Bachelor of Science from Princeton University, a Certificate of Postgraduate Studies from University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology, all in chemical engineering. He has been recognized as a fellow of multiple professional organizations including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), IMABE, and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

He was president of the IEEE Control Systems Society in 2015 and vice president and chair of the IFAC Technical Board from 2014 to 2017. In 2015, he received the Control Engineering Practice Award from the American Automatic Control Council (AACC) and, in 2020, he received the Industrial Achievement Award from IFAC — both for his role in the development of the artificial pancreas. 

Doyle is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (2016), the National Academy of Inventors (2020) and the National Academy of Engineering (2021). His research interests are in systems biology, network science, modeling and analysis of circadian rhythms, and drug delivery for diabetes. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking with his family and racing sailboats and is a certified soccer referee at the adult and collegiate levels.