Patrick G. O’Shea is an Irish-American scientist and academic. On June 14, 2016, he was appointed the fifteenth President of University College Cork, effective February 1, 2017. He previously served as Vice President and Chief Research Officer at the University of Maryland. At Maryland, he was a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and an affiliate professor in the Department of Physics, and previously served as Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Director of the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics.
His area of expertise is in electromagnetics, electron-accelerators and free-electron lasers. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher.
He was born in Cork, Ireland and attended secondary school at Coláiste Chríost Rí, Cork. He holds a B.Sc. degree from University College Cork, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Maryland, all in physics.
O'Shea's board memberships include the Universitas 21 Research Leaders Steering Group, the National Institute of Aerospace, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board, the Maryland Cybersecurity Council, and the Maryland Innovation Initiative.