Neville G. Pinto, PhD

Neville G. Pinto serves as the 30th President of the University of Cincinnati. A university teacher, researcher and administrator with nearly 40 years of experience in higher education, he became UC’s chief executive on February 20, 2017. He is the first UC president to rise from the ranks of UC’s faculty since Herman Schneider, the founder of cooperative education (1928–1932).

During his tenure, the university has set enrollment records, and he has prioritized signature investments in diversity, equity and inclusion. Dr. Pinto leads the Cincinnati region’s only Carnegie Research 1 university — an institution attracting nearly $700 million in annual external research grants and contracts (including affiliates).

In February 2018, he launched UC’s strategic direction, Next Lives Here, which is a new paradigm for university planning that allows the university to be nimble and responsive to the world’s changing landscape. "Next Lives Here" — which moved into its Acceleration Phase in 2022 — focuses on leading public universities into a new era of innovation and impact, with three main platforms: Academic Excellence, Urban Impact and the Innovation Agenda.

As a part of this strategic direction, Pinto established the university’s first Chief Innovation Officer, and UC opened the 1819 Innovation Hub, followed by the Digital Futures Complex. Pinto’s leadership led UC’s intellectual property process to be reimagined, and it became a model for the state’s “Ohio IP Promise.” Under his guiding vision, the university also is reinventing its cooperative education program — the world’s first — for the digital economy. UC also attracted a $100 million investment from JobsOhio to accelerate the number of STEM graduates, promote federal research at UC and the affiliated Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and launch the Cincinnati Innovation District in Uptown.

Pinto presided as UC celebrated its Bicentennial in 2018–2019 while looking ahead to its next century and launching a $2 billion comprehensive campaign, “Next, Now.” Since becoming UC's president, the university’s first Staff Senate was formed, and the university opened a first-ever Staff Success Center as well as a new Faculty Enrichment Center. Regionally, Pinto serves on the Ohio Governor’s Executive Workforce Board, the Cincinnati Futures Commission, the Cincinnati Business Committee (CBC) and as chair of the Uptown Consortium in Cincinnati.  

Prior to returning to UC to serve as president, Dr. Pinto led the University of Louisville as acting president and professor of chemical engineering. Before serving at the University of Louisville, he served for 26 years on the faculty in chemical engineering at the University of Cincinnati, where he established the Adsorption and Ion Exchange Laboratory, which focused on research in biochemical and environmental engineering. His research included purification of genetically engineered drugs, the study of bio-membranes, and air and water purification. His laboratory attracted over $6 million in external research funding and trained 32 graduate students including 16 PhD students, many of whom have moved on to become leaders in industry and academia. Dr. Pinto’s work as an academic inventor and dedication to strategic innovation as President led to his selection as a National Academy of Inventors Fellow in 2024.

Earlier in his career at UC, Pinto held a number of administrative posts including Department Head for Chemical Engineering, Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, and Vice Provost and Dean of The Graduate School. As Dean, he had a leadership role in attracting major external awards totaling over $10 million to UC to support graduate and STEM education.

Pinto joined the University of Louisville (UofL) as Dean of the Speed School of Engineering in 2011. While dean, his accomplishments included overseeing a major expansion in the enrollment of the college and spearheading the development of the Belknap Engineering and Applied Sciences Research Park. He significantly strengthened the university’s relationship with GE, to develop a partnership that has led to significant educational and career opportunities for students and encouraged the company to bring its FirstBuild microfactory to campus. This effort earned the Silver Fleur-de-Lis award from Greater Louisville Inc. in 2015.

From May 2015 to July 2016, Pinto served as Interim Executive Vice President and University Provost at UoL. During this period, he finalized the 21st Century University Plan and launched major initiatives to strengthen educational excellence, student success and access, research and community engagement. He was appointed Acting President in 2016.

Pinto was elected Fellow of the Graduate School at UC based on outstanding scholarly attainment and was elected to the National Academy of Inventors in recognition of U.S. patents awarded. He has variously been active in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Society for Engineering Education, American Chemical Society and is a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society. He is also the recipient of numerous outstanding teaching and service awards.

Pinto was born in Mumbai, India. He was educated at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, where he earned his bachelor’s in chemical engineering. He earned his MS and his PhD in chemical engineering at Penn State University.