Final Candidate for UW Research VP to Speak Tuesday

The final candidate for the position of vice president for research and economic development at the University of Wyoming is scheduled to visit campus this week.

Edmund Synakowski, associate director of science for fusion energy sciences with the U.S. Department of Energy, will speak from 2-3:15 p.m. Tuesday, May 9, in the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center auditorium. The session will be streamed live on the WyoCast system; the link is https://wyocast.uwyo.edu/WyoCast/Play/f1f1fd328ce448689c13123a75f575421d.To learn more about him, go here.

The other finalists already have appeared on campus. They are:

-- Joseph Heppert, associate vice chancellor for research at the University of Kansas. To learn more about him, go here.

-- Kent Keyser, associate vice president for research at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. To learn more about him, go here.

-- D. Marshall Porterfield, professor in Purdue University’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and former director of Space Life and Physical Sciences Division in NASA’s Human Exploration Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. To learn more about him, go here.

The search committee invites members of the campus community to provide feedback on each of the candidates. Here are the links to do so:

-- Keyser -- www.surveymonkey.com/r/GD3NYT6.

-- Heppert -- www.surveymonkey.com/r/GD5F8X9.

-- Porterfield -- www.surveymonkey.com/r/GYYC3M8.

-- Synakowski -- www.surveymonkey.com/r/GYRJRXC.

The role of the vice president for research and economic development is to support and facilitate the research efforts of UW’s faculty, staff and students; direct the university’s research mission as a public research university; promote the university’s research program with stakeholders; and direct technology transfer and commercialization efforts for UW intellectual property.