Dr. Yvonne Harris
Vice President, Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships at Northern Illinois University
Dr. Yvonne Harris, the Vice President of the Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships at Northern Illinois University starts a new chapter in Illinois after moving from the Office of Research,
Innovation, and Economic Development (ORIED) at California State University – Sacramento (CSUS).
At NIU she is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of the re- search and innovation enterprise portfolio providing creative, efficient research administrative operations; promoting a collaborative, innovative research environment, engaging and supporting investigators to promote multidisciplinary research projects; overseeing campus-wide planning efforts for research facilities; increasing opportunities with local, regional, federal, and other funding agencies, national laboratories, industry partners, and other constituencies; supporting intellectual property and technology transfer, and providing strategic guidance and decision making on matters relative to resource planning, policy development, promotion of research, scholarly and creative activity, and exploration of innovative interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary collaborations in a shared governance environment.
While at CSUS she worked to expand the research capacity of Sacramento State’s faculty, staff, and students, and to link a range of academic and infrastructure initiatives that advance the University’s faculty and campus connections to the community and with industries in the region. As the Associate Vice President, she provided vision and leadership for an increasing number of campus activities in sponsored research, grants, and contracts as well as innovation, technology transfer and economic development activities. ORIED served as the conduit for advancing research to produce innovations that in turn stimulate and grow the economy of the community and the region. The responsibilities for this position included research infrastructure advancement; research promotion and marketing, management of personnel and budget; pre-award oversight and management; research integrity, compliance, and contracts; and oversight of research-based Centers and Institutes and administration. In addition, she worked closely with the City of Sacramento and non-profit organizations on advancing economic inclusion and prosperity in the Sacramento Region. She served on several committees and boards such as the California State University Chief Re- search Officer Executive Committee; Power Inn Alliance Board; Mayor’s Workforce Collective; Mayor’s Technology Innovation Council; Inclusive Economic and Community Development Investment Committee and Workforce Subcommittee of which she was Chair.
Prior to coming to Sacramento State University, she served as Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship at James Madi- son University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia where she was responsible for promoting and supporting the research, scholarship and other creative activities of faculty and students, as well as supporting economic development and en- entrepreneurial activities across campus and with external partners. At JMU she embraced a broad spectrum of research and scholarship which was based in part on the recognition of the importance of the mutual influence, collaboration and integration of research and teaching in providing educational experiences to “prepare students to be educated and enlightened citizens.” Working with the University she strongly encouraged and supported cross and interdisciplinary research as well as industry and government collaborations. In this capacity she worked closely with MITRE and other Virginia Universities to help establish a University/Industry partnership in Virginia, known as the MITRE University Innovation Exchange (MITRE UIX).
While in Virginia she served as an active member on the Southeast University Research Association (SURA) coalition, a collaborative of Southeast universities and industries. She served as a board member on the James Madison Innovations, Inc.; Union Bank and Trust; Boys’ Home of Virginia; Virginia Biotechnology (VaBIO); and the Virginia Sea Grant. She also served on the Research Review Committee for the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology and Commonwealth’s Research and Technology Investment Advisory Committee (RTIAC); and the Virginia Research Investment Fund (VRIF) and Virginia Research Initiative Committee (VRIC) which were formed to provide funds to competitive projects that have research and commercial implications for Virginia.
Timothy Killeen, Chair
President, University of Illinois
Timothy L. Killeen has served since 2012 as vice chancellor for research and president of the Research Foundation at the State University of New York, one of the nation’s largest higher education systems with 64 campuses, 465,000 students, 88,000 faculty and more than 7,600 degree and certificate programs.
As president of SUNY’s Research Foundation, Killeen heads the nation’s largest, most comprehensive university-connected research foundation, administering about $900 million annually across SUNY’s 29 state-supported research campuses. In his dual role as vice chancellor for research, he is at the center of SUNY’s strategy for research growth and works with campus leaders to increase basic, clinical and translational research.
Before joining SUNY, he served for four years as assistant director for the geosciences at the National Science Foundation. He also has served as Lyall Research Professor at the University of Colorado, as director and senior scientist for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and spent more than 20 years as a faculty member and researcher at the University of Michigan, where he also served as associate vice president for research.
He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2007, and also is a member and past president of the American Geophysical Union, and a member of the American Meteorological Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the New York Academy of Sciences.
A leading researcher in geophysics and space sciences, Killeen received his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. at University College London, where he earned his doctoral degree in atomic and molecular physics at the age of 23.
His research has earned three achievement awards from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and he has received awards for teaching and research excellence from the University of Michigan College of Engineering. He has authored more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals, along with more than 300 other publications and papers.
Killeen’s wife, Roberta M. Johnson, is executive director of the National Earth Science Teachers Association and a clinical professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences at the State University of New York at Albany. They have three children.
