Johnston Hall building with a purple and pink sunset behind it.

Vice President for 
Research & Innovation Search

January 2026

The University has launched a national search for its next Vice President for Research & Innovation.
Additional details and updates will be posted here when they are available.
 


 

Search Committee

Gretchen Ritter (co-chair), Executive Vice President and Provost

Rick Huebsch (co-chair), Associate Vice President for Research, Technology Commercialization

Frank Bates, Regents Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, College of Science and Engineering, Twin Cities campus

Robert Clarke, Executive Director, The Hormel Institute; Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics

Connie Delaney, Dean, School of Nursing

Julie Etterson, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Biology, Swenson College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota Duluth

Jeffrey Gralnick, Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, College of Biological Sciences

Galin Jones, Professor, Department of Statistics, College of Liberal Arts; Chair of the Data Science and AI Hub

Genevieve Melton-Meaux, Senior Associate Dean for Health Informatics and Data Science, Medical School; Professor, Division of Rectal Surgery. Director, Center for Learning Health System Sciences. Professor and Core Faculty Member, Institute of Health Informatics

Theresa Osypuk, Director, Minnesota Population Center, Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health

Brian Paro, Director of Federal Relations, Government Relations

Jayanthi Sasisekaran, Chair, Senate Committee on Research; Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, College of Liberal Arts

Ryan Schmiesing, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives

John Wagner, Professor in the Medical School's Department of Pediatrics, Division of Blood and Marrow Transplant & Cellular Therapy. He is also the Founding Director of the Institute of Cell, Gene and Immunotherapeutics at the University of Minnesota and Co-Director of the Center for Translational Medicine
 

Contact

Maggie Flaten
Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the President 
[email protected]