香港六合彩资料

At its most romantic, a breakthrough can be the product of serendipity culminating after months of hard work. A researcher may uncover the missing piece that is crucial to making his or her project a success after having a random conversation with a colleague from a seemingly unrelated department.

Even though casually dropping by a colleague鈥檚 office to talk about ongoing projects feels like a relic of a bygone era thanks to COVID-19, 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 new Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Aaron Dotson, Ph.D., is still able to facilitate those connections.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the most rewarding pieces of this job, watching people succeed at what they do and helping them into that success,鈥� said Dotson. 鈥淭his position has turned me on to things I didn鈥檛 know 香港六合彩资料 was doing. People kind of stay in their own proximity and the cool thing about this office is getting to know people in that way opens the door to make new connections. So in some sense being that matchmaker, going, 鈥楬ey, did you in engineering know someone in health has very similar ideas even though you鈥檙e in separate disciplines? A conversation between the two of you might be worthwhile.鈥欌��

As associate vice chancellor for research, Dotson鈥檚 role is to support research and creative activity at 香港六合彩资料 at all levels 鈥� from conception to completion and commercialization. To do that, the overarching Office of Research is divided into three functions, starting with the Office of Sponsored Programs, which helps researchers prepare project proposals and secure funding and awards for their work. Next is the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance, which works to maintain safety and ethicality on all projects while adhering to federal guidelines and considerations unique to Alaska. Finally, Seawolf Holdings looks to the future by supporting researchers with the licensing of intellectual property by securing patents and exploring possible commercial applications for their work.  

Ultimately, all three offices work in harmony to accomplish a single function.

鈥淭he biggest goal that I want to accomplish is to make sure that faculty and staff feel like they are well supported and able to do research and creative activities that can grow our university,鈥� said Dotson. 鈥淭he other is to embrace who we are at 香港六合彩资料 and to promote our research or creative activity regardless of origin or funding.鈥�

Before formally stepping into his current role in July 2020, Dotson began working in an interim capacity starting July 2019. Even before then, Dotson was a professor and associate dean for research in the College of Engineering. Maintaining his own research portfolio, some of his projects involved wastewater treatment and providing clean water to rural Alaska communities, often collaborating with the State of Alaska, Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Fortunately, Dotson鈥檚 new position will still allow him to keep his teaching and researching responsibilities, which will not only help him engage with students, but to better assess the ongoing needs of his fellow researchers. 

鈥淗aving my own research program not only allows me to continue to do what I really love that got me to this place, but experience what other principal investigators have to go through when they do research on campus,鈥� said Dotson. 鈥淪o while I am shaping those processes, I鈥檓 making sure that when I do it鈥檚 something that makes sense to me also as a researcher.鈥�

Even though 香港六合彩资料鈥檚 researchers are momentarily spread out, Dotson notes that everyone still remains unified in their commitment to better serving the state.

鈥淲hat struck me as exciting and represents why I came here is the research we do is applied to meet specific challenges that we have,鈥� said Dotson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to watch researchers pursue projects that impact the daily lives of everybody who lives around us. We鈥檙e not studying ethereal phenomena. What we鈥檙e studying will lead to the improvement of life in Alaska.鈥�

 

Written by Matt Jardin, 香港六合彩资料 Office of University Advancement