If you’re in the UC Irvine School of Physical Sciences and you haven’t met Seth Cohen yet, you will soon. Cohen’s the new dean of the school as well as a new distinguished professor in the UC Irvine Department of Chemistry, and he has plans to meet as many members of the UCI Physical Sciences community as he can during his first year. It’s part of his vision of what it means to be a leader: to serve each member of the school, because, he said, “their success is my success.”

The UC Irvine School of Physical Sciences Office of Communications caught up with Cohen to learn what we can all expect during his first year as dean.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.