Physicist Jorge Jos?(c), currently the chair of the physics department at Northeastern University, was named vice president for research at UB by President John Simpson earlier this week.
Effective Aug. 1, Jos?(c) will be responsible for management and regulations related to all sponsored programs and research at UB, according to a UB press release. He will report to Satish Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.
"I feel very excited," Jos?(c) said in an interview with The Spectrum. "It's a significant challenge and I'm happy to help Simpson and Tripathi to improve the quality of education at UB. I'd like to enhance excellence, increase funding and make UB one of the leading universities in the United States."
According to the press release, Jos?(c) will focus on pioneering the expansion of university-wide research strategies and the development of strategies to increase research support for faculty and students.
One of his main goals is to enhance research funding and encourage people to branch out from basic research, Jos?(c) said.
"I want to encourage people to do individual research," he said.
Jos?(c) said that soon after he gets to UB he will do his best to get to know all of the departments and colleges within the university.
"I'm interested in law, the business school and humanities," Jos?(c) said. "I'd like to visit all of the departments and colleges at UB to listen to their ideas and what they would like to see."
Research committee officials said they were pleased to see Jos?(c) fill the research position.
"Uniquely, Dr. Jos?(c) possesses a keen awareness of the research and scholarship issues that are prevalent across and throughout the academic disciplines," Tripathi said in the release. "I know that the University at Buffalo will benefit greatly from Dr. Jos?(c)'s leadership and I am absolutely delighted that he is joining the UB community."
Peter Nickerson, chair of the Faculty Senate, was also pleased with the committee's choice to appoint Jos?(c) as the vice president for research.
"It's clear he has a very distinguished research background, and it's a fresh perspective coming from the outside," Nickerson said. "He developed from the beginning in the physics department, and that shows he can really enhance research at UB. I am really pleased to have someone of this caliber coming to the university."
Nickerson stressed how important it is to have a strong research department with a strong leader to help UB move up in the overall research rankings.
"We want to go up in the rankings and as an outsider, it's another helpful perspective to help enhance UB as a research university," Nickerson said.
President Simpson said under Jos?(c)'s leadership, UB's research program will soar to new levels.
"Ensuring the success of our sponsored programs and other research initiatives is absolutely essential to building a leading edge, nationally prominent academic program," Simpson said. "I am fully confident that we have chosen a leader who will steer our research programs toward achieving their great potential in the 21st century. I am enormously impressed by Dr. Jos?(c)'s expertise and proven commitment to furthering interdisciplinary research and scholarship. He is an excellent fit for UB's innovative forward-looking research program, and I'm looking forward to the vision, contributions, and leadership he will bring to UB's academic enterprise at large."
Jos?(c) has been a faculty member at Northeastern University since 1980, and studied research in numerous scientific fields. He also founded the university's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Complex Systems, which focuses on finding theoretical and experimental solutions to complex system problems.
He also co-authored 130 scientific publications, and has given over 200 speeches in 20 countries.
Jos?(c) earned his doctorate, master's and bachelor's degrees in physics from the National University of Mexico.
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
