Timothy D. Sands, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Purdue University, has been named the 16th president at Virginia Tech, effective June 1, 2014. Sands, 55, will be replacing Charles Steger, who has served as president for 14 years.

"He has stellar academic credentials and administrative experience from some of the nation's outstanding land-grant and public research universities. We were particularly impressed with Tim's sense of the modern research university's role in advancing American society and its economy." Mike Quillen, rector of the board said in a statement.

When he resumes his new role, Sands hopes to carry forward the momentum established by Steger and Board.

"I am delighted and honored to serve this great university," said Sands. "There is so much here that Virginia and the nation needs. Virginia Tech truly embodies the 21st century land-grant university role. I'm excited to have the opportunity to serve a university that's been on an upward trajectory over the last decade or more and is well positioned for even greater success. I share in the board's optimism for the future."

At Purdue, Sands is the Basil S. Turner Professor of Engineering at Purdue's Schools of Material Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering. He also served as the institution's interim president in Fall 2012 and director of the university's Birck Nanotechnology Center.

Sands earned his bachelor's degree in engineering physics (1980) and master's degree and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering, all from the University of California, Berkeley.

He began his professional career in 1984 at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; spent nine years as a member of technical staff and research group director with Bell Communications Research, Inc. (Bellcore) in Red Bank, N.J.; joined University of California, Berkeley, in 1993 as a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and served executive committee chair of the Applied Science and Technology Graduate Group and the director of the Integrated Materials Laboratory at Berkeley.