Anderson was part of Cornell University's faculty for five years, where he served as an assistant professor of chemical engineering. On 1 September 1976, Anderson left Cornell to begin a 28-year career at Carnegie Mellon. Starting out as an associate professor, he soon became director of the Biomedical Engineering Program. He continued to weave through the ranks at Carnegie Mellon before being conferred as a university professor on 1 July 1994, the highest rank for a professor offered at that institution. Two years later, he was appointed dean of the college of engineering. He was in that position for eight years before leaving the university on 1 April 2004 to become provost, university vice president, and professor of chemical engineering at Case Western Reserve.[3]
Anderson served at Case Western Reserve from 2004 until 2007. He and the university president Edward M. Hundert lost no-confidence vote March 2, 2006, by the College of Arts and Sciences faculty, by 131–44 against Hundert and 97–68 against Anderson.[4] He joined IIT on August 1, 2007, as president and professor of chemical engineering.[3] He stepped down as president eight years later, and he was elected president of the National Academy of Engineering in 2019 for a six-year term.
Awards and accomplishments
Anderson was appointed to National Science Board in 2014 and received the National Engineering Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies in 2012.
He was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and awarded the Acrivos Professional Progress Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 1989.
Anderson was a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation from 1982-83.
He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Delaware, Illinois Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Case Western Reserve University.