Appointment of Vice Chancellor for Research

To the Anteater community:

I am delighted to announce that I have appointed Pramod Khargonekar, assistant director for engineering at the National Science Foundation, as our next vice chancellor for research. He begins his appointment June 30.

At the NSF, Pramod manages a budget of more than $900 million and is part of the senior team that sets the nation’s research priorities and policies. He also is the Eckis Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Florida. From 2001 to 2009, he served as dean of that university’s College of Engineering, where he oversaw a 60 percent increase in research expenditures, doubled Ph.D. productivity, recruited more than 90 new faculty members and secured major philanthropic gifts.

Pramod is an expert in systems and control theory and applications, smart grid and renewable energy, neural control engineering, technology and society, and engineering education and research. He holds a master’s in mathematics and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Florida. He earned a bachelor of technology degree in electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India’s top research university.

As vice chancellor, Pramod will be instrumental in helping UCI achieve the ambitious research goals established in our strategic plan. Given his varied experience and demonstrated talents, I am confident that Pramod will help us deepen our partnerships with funding agencies, promote major research initiatives, and increase collaboration among our faculty across multiple disciplines. We are fortunate to have a leader of his caliber.

I am grateful to the members of the search committee and its chair, School of Social Sciences Dean Bill Maurer, for their dedicated efforts in the search process. My deepest thanks, along with the appreciation of all of us on campus, go to Professor Jim Hicks for serving as interim vice chancellor during this past year. Jim has done an outstanding job, making changes in the Office of Research that position us well going forward.

For more information about Pramod’s appointment, please read the news release.

We look forward to Vice Chancellor Pramod Khargonekar’s becoming a member of the Anteater family. Please join me in welcoming him to UCI.

Sincerely,

Chancellor Howard Gillman