Michigan State University is hiring Shashank Priya as vice president for research and innovation, subject to approval by the board of trustees at a 6 February meeting.
Priya is expected to start in his new role on 16 February. He will succeed Douglas Gage, who is retiring after more than 18 years with the institution, including more than five as vice president for research and innovation.
“I am deeply honoured to join an exceptionally talented and experienced team that stewards a near-billion-dollar research enterprise with far-reaching social, environmental, economic and national security impact.
“The remarkable depth and breadth of disciplinary expertise at MSU enable the conception and delivery of truly transformative, high-impact interdisciplinary programmes.”
Shashank Priya
Priya joins from the University of Minnesota, where he spent more than three years as vice president of research and innovation from September 2022.
Last month, he became a special adviser and founding executive director of the university’s National Security Research Institute, as well as a strategic adviser to the chancellor of the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Priya’s leadership led to a record number of spinouts from the University of Minnesota, as well as record growth in research awards and research expenditures.
“Dr Priya’s distinguished career as a researcher and leader of a major research enterprise, his deep commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration, and his demonstrated ability to expand research capacity and strategic impact make him the ideal leader to help advance MSU’s ambitious goals for discovery, innovation and global impact.
“We are on an upward trajectory, and I am confident Shashank will continue and expand on our success and new opportunities.”
Kevin Guskiewicz, president of Michigan State University
Earlier in his career, Priya was an associate vice president for research at Pennsylvania State University, where his achievements included the doubling in size and reorganisation of the Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Office, substantially increasing large, complex proposal submissions and funding success rates.
