Dear Colleagues,
As part of our ongoing commitment to strengthening our research enterprise, we would like to re-introduce the University’s central research offices – the offices and teams that work together to support research and scholarship across the University.
Why this re-introduction?
Over the past year, we’ve made significant changes and improvements, intended to better support all researchers and scholars at the University. These include: the launching of our new Office of Research Integrity, Stewardship, & Ethics (ORISE); the recruitment of new leaders of our Office of Human Subject Protection and of Animal Resource; new partnerships with University IT that are intended to enhance research computing (and research security); and the very recent appointment of an inaugural Associate Vice President and Vice Provost for Artificial Intelligence (AI).
A shared mission
Together, the central research offices provide University-wide leadership, expertise, and services that support our research and scholarly missions. While each office has distinct responsibilities, they operate as an integrated system, working collaboratively to efficiently support faculty, staff, and students across the institution.
Leadership
Steve Dewhurst serves as Vice President for Research. He oversees our central research offices, as well as our research strategy and funding priorities, and serves as the “Institutional Official” for key compliance functions.
Central research offices
These offices and cross-functional teams work closely with one another — and with partners such as the Office of Research Accounting and Costing Standards (ORACS), the University Libraries, the Center for Integrated Research Computing (CIRC), Foundation Relations, Office of Counsel, Government and Community Relations, Environmental Health & Safety, and University IT — to provide coordinated guidance, reduce administrative friction, and support responsible, high-impact research and scholarship across the University.
Our offices comprise:
- Office of the Vice President for Research – Led by Libby Reitz. Coordination, communication, and collaboration with all other offices. Internal institution-wide funding opportunities and limited submissions, major initiatives and projects.
- Animal Resource — Led by Pradeep Dumpala. Animal care and veterinary services.
- Office for Human Subject Protection (OHSP) — Led by Sarah Mumford. IRB/RSRB oversight, education and compliance for human research, and leadership of the Human Research Protection Program (HRPP).
- Office of Research Integrity, Stewardship, & Ethics (ORISE) — Led by Sonya Hadrigan. University research misconduct processes and proceedings, research COI/Commitment administration, research data governance support, responsible and ethical conduct of research (ReCR) training, and related research integrity compliance support and consultation.
- Office of Research & Project Administration (ORPA) — Led by Anthony Beckman. Proposal submission, contract negotiation, award management, pre- and post-award administration, material and data sharing, export controls, and billing compliance.
- Research Security — Led by Joe Doyle. Compliance with federal research security laws and regulations; input on emerging security issues.
- UR Ventures — Led by Harl Tolbert. Intellectual property (including patents, copyrights and trademarks), technology licensing and commercialization, startups, and industry partnerships.
- University Committee on Animal Resources (UCAR) – Led by Chris Stodgell. Oversight and compliance for research involving animals.
Governance, resources & engagement
The central research offices also support University-wide governance and oversight bodies (including the Research Executive Committee, Committee on Science and Security, Conflict of Interest Committees, and Research Compute Operations Committee) and provide shared resources for researcher onboarding, funding opportunities, compliance, innovation, and research data and computing.
We encourage faculty, staff, and learners to explore these resources and to engage early with the appropriate offices when planning new research — particularly for proposals, data-intensive projects, or international activities that may involve research security risks. This re-introduction is intended to make it easier to understand who does what, how the offices work together, and where to turn for support.
Learn more or contact us: https://www.rochester.edu/university-research/
Warm regards,
Office of the Vice President for Research