Winkelstein is the deputy provost and Eduardo D. Glandt President’s Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering and Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania.
Beth A. Winkelstein, a world-renowned bioengineer and higher education leader, has been appointed by President Joseph E. Aoun to be Northeastern University’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs effective Aug. 22.
Winkelstein joins Northeastern from the University of Pennsylvania, where she serves as deputy provost and the Eduardo D. Glandt President’s Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering and Neurosurgery.
“Beth emerged as the strongest candidate from a diverse, international pool of talented academic leaders,” Aoun wrote in a message to the university community. “She brings a myriad of talents to Northeastern, including an impressive record of leadership in senior roles; renowned expertise in the field of bioengineering; and an innovative mindset geared toward student outcomes.”
As provost, Winkelstein will oversee Northeastern’s 10 schools and colleges, its expanding research enterprise and the university’s libraries. She will also help shape the university’s budget and strategic priorities.
“I am honored and excited to be joining Northeastern, a university that is truly unique and charting a bold path for the future of higher education,” Winkelstein said. “We are living in a time when Northeastern’s experiential learning model and its solution-driven approach to research is needed around the world. I look forward to working with President Aoun, and everyone in the Northeastern community, to be a part of taking this university to new heights.”
Winkelstein will succeed David Madigan, who will conclude his five-year term on June 30. Madigan will remain at Northeastern as a faculty member in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences and as a special adviser to the president.
Over more than 20 years at Penn, Winkelstein held several senior leadership positions, including interim provost, vice provost for education, and associate dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
She launched Penn First Plus, a program that supports first-generation and low-income students with financial aid, academic resources and a strong sense of community. She also co-led a $750 million initiative to recruit faculty in strategic academic fields and led efforts to strengthen teaching and expand faculty diversity.
Winkelstein’s research has focused on how injuries to the spine and joints cause pain, contributing to advances in medical devices and treatment approaches. She is the author of “Orthopaedic Biomechanics” and has written more than 175 papers and book chapters. She has also mentored more than 60 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers and over 70 undergraduates.
Her honors include career awards from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, as well as top accolades from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She holds three patents and chairs the society’s board of editors.
Winkelstein earned her bachelor’s degree in bioengineering from Penn, where she was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, and her doctorate in bioengineering from Duke University. She completed postdoctoral training at Dartmouth College before joining the Penn faculty in 2002.
Northeastern receives nearly $300 million in annual research funding — one of the highest totals among U.S. universities without a medical school. With 13 campuses, it offers 329 undergraduate majors and 270 combined programs, as well as 36 Ph.D. and 264 graduate programs. Students come from all 50 states and over 100 countries, participating in experiential learning across 148 countries and all seven continents. Applications continue to surge, reaching a record 105,092 for the 2025-26 academic year, up from 26,400 in 2006.
Executive Vice Provost Tom Sheahan will serve as interim provost from July 1 until Winkelstein assumes the role in August.
Aoun thanked Madigan for his “tireless leadership and service” and praised the search committee for identifying a candidate of Winkelstein’s caliber.
“Please join me in welcoming Beth Winkelstein, our next provost, to Northeastern,” he wrote.