First Finalist for UW Research VP to Visit This Week

Finalists for the position of vice president for research and economic development at the University of Wyoming have been identified, and they are scheduled to visit UW beginning Friday, April 28.

The candidates are Joseph Heppert, associate vice chancellor for research at the University of Kansas; Kent Keyser, associate vice president for research at the University of Alabama-Birmingham; and Edmund Synakowski, associate director of science for fusion energy sciences with the U.S. Department of Energy.

As part of a multiple-day visit to campus, each candidate is scheduled to give a public presentation.

Keyser is scheduled to speak from 2-3:15 p.m. Friday, April 28, in the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center. The presentation will be streamed on WyoCast; the link will be provided later. To learn more about him, go here.

The public presentations for Heppert and Synakowski will be announced later. To learn more about them, go here and here.

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.