Katherine Banks

Margaret Katherine 'Kathy' Banks, an American academic and engineer, served as the 26th President of Texas A&M University from 2021 to 2023. She is the second woman to hold this prestigious position out of a total of 41 presidents. Before her presidency, Banks was an elected Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of the National Academy of Engineering since 2014. She also served as the Dean of the College of Engineering and held the Jack and Kay Hockema Professorship at Purdue University. Banks specializes in various areas such as applied microbial systems, biofilm processes, wastewater treatment and reuse, and phytoremediation bioremediation. She received her Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering from the University of Florida in 1982, her Master of Science in environmental engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1985, and her Doctorate of Philosophy in civil and environmental engineering from Duke University in 1989.