Dr. Dean P. Neikirk is a Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and holds the Cullen Trust for Higher Education Endowed Professorship in Engineering. He is also the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies for The University of Texas at Austin.

He received a B.S. degree in physics and mathematics from Oklahoma State University in 1979, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1981 and 1984, respectively. He has been a member of the faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin since 1984.

Dr. Neikirk also developed the teaching laboratory for semiconductor device fabrication at The University of Texas at Austin, and is an active member of The University of Texas at Austin Microelectronics Research Center.