Northwestern launches national search for next Vice President for Research

Building on another fiscal year in which Northwestern exceeded $1 billion in external research funding, the University announced today a national search for its next Vice President for Research. The University also announced structural changes to the Office for Research (OR) designed to make Northwestern’s research enterprise even stronger and more resilient, and to enhance support for faculty, staff and student researchers.

“Researchers across Northwestern’s schools and University Research Institutes and Centers achieved this remarkable success in the recently concluded fiscal year. This success is a clear testament to the great strength of our scholarship and the crucial support the Office for Research provides to the Northwestern community of scholars,” Northwestern President Mung Chiang said. “Now it is time to further elevate, expand and accelerate the fundamental and translational discoveries by our amazing colleagues and students across and between many disciplines. Northwestern aspires to become the best research university in the world.”

The next Vice President for Research (VPR) will succeed Eric Perreault, who stepped down from the role at the end of April. Associate Provost for Faculty and Hugh Knowles Professor in Hearing Sciences Sumit Dhar has been serving as interim VPR. The search committee will be co-chaired by Provost Erik Luijten and Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Amanda Distel. Further details, including search committee members and search firm, will be announced in early Fall Quarter.

The updates to OR’s structure, which will take effect Sept. 15, are informed by extensive input over the past several months. The updates are:

• Vice President for Research will report directly to the President, with a dotted line to the Provost.
• Creation of a new unit in OR called Industry Partnership and Economic Development, which will be led by a new associate vice president. Associate Vice President for Innovation and New Ventures Lisa Dhar will additionally lead this unit in an interim capacity while a search for the new role is planned. The Office of Corporate Engagement, currently within Alumni Relations and Development (ARD), will move into this new unit with a dotted line to ARD.
• Expansion of support to a broad range of disciplines by extending the scope of the Associate Vice President for Social and Behavioral Research. Brian Mustanski’s title will be updated to Associate Vice President for Research in Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts to reflect this broadening of support.
• Expansion of support for deepened partnerships with Department of Energy National Labs and other federal funding agencies. Enectali Figueroa-Feliciano will expand his current responsibilities as the Associate Vice President for National Laboratories in the new role of Associate Vice President for National Laboratories and Federal Agencies.

These efforts are further strengthened by the recently announced creation of the Office for Sponsored Projects, which unifies pre- and post-award services to better support faculty and staff across the sponsored-project lifecycle.

Additionally, OR will enhance opportunities for undergraduate research by working closely with the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education. OR will also partner with the Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer to enhance the hardware and software systems in anticipation of the impact of AI in research.

“Together, these changes and recent structural realignments within the Office for Research position Northwestern for an ambitious new era of research excellence, resilience and impact,” Luijten said.

Other research units and support functions in OR will remain unchanged, including research enablement, interdisciplinary research institutions and centers (URICs), Innovation and New Ventures (INVO), the Cancer Center, the Northwestern University Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS), research administration and research security and compliance.

Over the next several months, the University will announce specific initiatives and activities to connect directly with faculty and students across Northwestern in support of these expansive aspirations. Office for Research leaders will schedule town halls with Northwestern faculty in all disciplines to help inform these advancements.