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Research Home

Office of Research

Vice Chancellor
Leadership Team
Chief Research Officers
Research News
Chancellor's Research Initiative
Research Partnerships
Commercialization
Research Development
Research Security
Research Compliance
RELLIS Research
Texas A&M Fort Worth
IHA
Contact
Vice Chancellor

Vice Chancellor for Research

Joe Elabd, Ph.D
Vice Chancellor for Research
Web | Email

Support: Claudia Pollard | Email | 979.458.0243

The Texas A&M University System consists of 11 universities and 8 state agencies with externally funded research expenditures exceeding $1 billion annually. As the leader of the Texas A&M System Office of Research, Dr. Elabd is responsible for providing leadership and services to support all 19 system members in areas including intellectual property and commercialization, research compliance, research development, research partnerships, research security, and research strategy.

Dr. Elabd is also a Professor and the Axalta Coating Systems Chair II in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and served as a Senior Fellow at the Instituto di Studi Avanzati, Università di Bologna and a Scholar in Residence at the Food & Drug Administration. He has received numerous research awards including the NSF CAREER Award, DuPont Science and Engineering Award, and the ARO Young Investigator Award.

His research focuses on electrochemical energy (batteries, capacitors, fuel cells) and materials and polymer science and he has authored over 130 research journal publications. Dr. Elabd has taught chemical engineering courses at all levels. Dr. Elabd received his Ph.D. and B.S. both in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland, Baltimore County, respectively, and was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

Leadership Team

Leadership Team

Joe Elabd
Vice Chancellor for Research

ORG Chart (PDF)

Kevin Gamache
Associate Vice Chancellor
Chief Research Security Officer

Kim McCuistion
Associate Vice Chancellor
Texas A&M Fort Worth Director

Peter O’Neill
Chief Innovation Officer
Technology Commercialization

Sharmila Pathikonda
Assistant Vice Chancellor
Research Development Director

David Staack
Associate Vice Chancellor
RELLIS Research

Patrick Stover
IHA Director
Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture

TBN
Chief Research Compliance Officer
Research Compliance

Chief Research Officers

Chief Research Officers

System

The Texas A&M University System

Joe Elabd, Ph.D
Vice Chancellor for Research
Web | Email

Support: Claudia Pollard | Email

Universities

Texas A&M University – College Station

Dr. Jack Baldauf
Vice President for Research
Web | Email

Support: Isamar Navarro | Email

Texas A&M University – Galveston

Dr. Antonietta Quigg
Interim Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs (TAMUG) and Associate Provost
Web | Email

Support: Therese Skrzyniarz | Email 

Texas A&M University – Qatar

Dr. Hassan Bazzi
Senior Associate Dean for Research and Advancement, Qatar Campus
Web | Email

Support: Kholoud Nawahdah | Email 

Prairie View A&M University

Dr. Magesh Rajan
Vice President for the Division of Research & Innovation at Prairie View A&M University
Web | Email

Support: Lenora Taylor | Email 

Tarleton State University

Dr. Rupa Iyer
Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development
Web | Email

Support: Dulce Vidal | Email

Texas A&M International University

Dr. John Kilburn
Associate Vice President to Research and Sponsored Projects
Web | Email

Support: Elsa A. Cisneros | Email 

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Dr. Ahmed Mahdy
Vice President for Research and Innovation (VPR)
Web | Email

Support: Justin Guajardo | Email

Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Dr. Jose F. Espiritu
Interim Associate Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies.
Web | Email

Support: Jessica Chavez | Email 

West Texas A&M University

Dr. Angela Spaulding
Vice President for Research and Compliance
Web | Email

Texas A&M University-Commerce

Dr. Brent Donham
Vice President for Research and Economic Development 
Web | Email 

Support: Leah Kanaman | Email 

Texas A&M University-Texarkana

Dr. Sushil Sharma
Associate Provost
Web | Email 

Support: Norma McCormick | Email 

Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Dr. Vijay Golla
Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies
Web | Email

Support: Ms. Stephanie Gonzalez | Email 

Texas A&M University-Central Texas

Dr. Russell Porter
Vice President for Research and Economic Development
Web | Email

Support: La Treice Fredrick | Email

Agencies

Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Leland S Pierson III
Interim Associate Director 
Web | Email

Support: Angela Bailey | Email

Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station

Dr. Dimitris Lagoudas
Agency Deputy Director
Web | Email

Support: Sherilyn Fields | Email 

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

Dr. Dan Hale
Associate Director for Agriculture and Natural Resources
Web | Email

Support: Rebekah See-Hruska | Email 

Texas A&M Forest Service

Dr. Aaron Stottlemyer
Department of Ecology & Conservation Biology
Web | Email

Support: Melissa Yeldell | Email 

Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service

Mr. Jonathan Dikes
Director of Contract Administration
Web | Email 

Texas A&M Transportation Institute

Dr. Joe Zietsman
Deputy Agency Director
Web | Email

Support: Saundra Jackson | Email

Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory

Dr. Kiril Dimitrov
Assistant Agency Director
Web | Email

Texas Division of Emergency Management

Dr. MacGregor M. Stephenson
Chief of Policy & Research
Web | Email

Research News

Research News

News about cutting-edge and impactful research from around The Texas A&M University System.

Spotlights

Prairie View A&M Awarded a University Transportation Center

The U.S. Department of Transportation notified the Texas Congressional Delegation that Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) was selected to lead a historic national-tier University Transportation Center (UTC).  Joined by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), and Texas A&M University, PVAMU will lead the National Center for Infrastructure Transformation, which will focus on enhancing the durability and extending the life of the nation’s infrastructure.

FULL STORY

U.S. Department of Transportation Funds Innovative Research Providing Vital Training for Next Generation of Transportation Leaders

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced up to $435 million in grant awards for 34 University Transportation Centers (UTC) that will help the next generation of transportation professionals make our roads, bridges, rail, shipping, and airspace safer, more innovative, and more efficient. UTCs advance transportation expertise and technology in the varied disciplines that comprise the field of transportation through education, research, and technology transfer activities. Project focus areas include, but are not limited to, improving the mobility of disadvantaged populations to mitigating impacts of extreme weather impacts on our Nation’s transportation systems to identifying and mitigating cybersecurity risks.

FULL STORY

Texas A&M Today is the official news and information website for Texas A&M University. The website covers various topics related to the university, including research, campus events, student life, and faculty and staff achievements. It provides a central hub for all the latest news and information about Texas A&M, including stories and features, videos, and multimedia content. The website also features a calendar of events and a directory of departments, centers, and offices at the university.

University News

Agency News

Chancellor's Research Initiative

Chancellor’s Research Initiative

Research Partnerships

Research Partnerships

Commercialization

Commercialization

Peter O’Neill
Associate Vice Chancellor
Chief Innovation Officer, Technology Commercialization
Web | Email

A boom in startups is primed to begin in Aggieland.

Leaders within The Texas A&M University System said this week that they expect a new approach to commercialization to lead to the creation of thousands of original discoveries, hundreds of innovative companies, and a massive increase in patents derived from the hard work of Texas A&M System researchers and scientists.

“I expect big things from the new commercialization push at Texas A&M,” Sharp said. “I think A&M System inventors will spark an explosion of venture capital and the creation of a lot of exciting new companies.”

At the heart of the new direction is the vision of Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp and President M. Katherine Banks of Texas A&M University. Sharp and Banks realized the opportunities that will be realized when Texas A&M and the System reorganize and consolidate five commercialization offices that have operated independently until now.

The move brings together the commercialization offices of:

  • Texas A&M University
  • Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
  • Texas A&M Transportation Institute
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research and
  • Texas A&M System’s Technology Commercialization Office

Together, the historically separate entities now will serve all 19 members of the Texas A&M System. Sharp said the new office will help the System to build a robust commercialization ecosystem and will allow System researchers to license technology and form companies that address national and global challenges.

Sharp and Banks also announced the leaders of the effort. Peter O’Neill, who has extensive experience in commercialization at one of the nation’s most pioneering medical institutions, the Cleveland Clinic, will lead the office as the inaugural Chief Innovation Officer. Also, Joe Cunningham, who holds a bachelor’s degree and medical degree from Texas A&M, will be the chairman of a new Innovation Advisory Council. Cunningham co-founded Santé Ventures in Austin in 2006 and is nationally recognized for his expertise in the healthcare sector.

Sharp and Banks reached the decision to consolidate the commercialization offices after they engaged with faculty, staff, inventors, leadership, alumni, venture capitalists, incubator and accelerator directors, and innovation leaders at peer institutions. The goal from the beginning was to understand how to make the Texas A&M commercialization enterprise a national model and a leader among all U.S. universities.

The idea behind the concept came out of a need for a more streamlined way to take new ideas and inventions and commercialize them and quickly get them into the marketplace. The consolidated effort will provide centralized intellectual property protection, licensing, and assistance for new venture formation for all members.

“Our new approach to commercialization will significantly benefit our researchers, The Texas A&M University System, and society at large. Streamlining and expanding our resources will drive life-changing technology and solutions to the market faster, increase operational efficiency, reduce costs, and generate revenue to support the future success of these new companies and their innovations,” Banks said. “I believe our approach will soon be a model for other top universities across the country.”

The new combined office has been set up in a renovated and contemporary space in Century Square in College Station, a complex of high-end hotels, restaurants, shops, and apartments.

Research Development

Research Development

Dr. Sharmila Pathikonda
Assistant Vice Chancellor
Director for Research Development
979.458.0242
Email

Dr. Sharmila Pathikonda is the Director of the Office of Research Development for the TAMU System. Dr. Pathikonda brings over 15 years of experience in proposal and research development activities. Trained as a biologist, her research development experiences has provided first-hand knowledge of research activities and needs across colleges and departments spanning the sciences, education, engineering, and health sciences. She will bring her wide-ranging experiences to enhance research activities across system campuses and all domains of research. Dr. Pathikonda prides herself in being a champion for investigators and is committed to enabling and expanding the research enterprise across the TAMU System.

Research Development Org Chart
Research Security

Research Security

Dr. Kevin Gamache
Associate Vice Chancellor
Chief Research Security Officer
979.862.1965
Web | Email

The Texas A&M University System Research Security Office (RSO) was established to support all A&M System principal investigators (PIs) in meeting federal requirements for securing classified information, controlled unclassified information (CUI), and to serve as the Export Control Office for the A&M System. The mission of the RSO is to establish and administer export control and research security policies, procedures and technology to enable Texas A&M University System Members to comply with federal guidelines for transporting and handling all levels of U.S. Government information.

Dr. Kevin Gamache is The Facility Security Officer (FSO) for The Texas A&M University System. The FSO is responsible for managing A&M System’s relationship with federal agencies under the National Industrial Security Program requirements.

Through a concerted effort, the Research Security Office fulfills four objectives
• Alleviate the burden of compliance on all faculty
• Support the system in securing regulated date
• Manage the system secure computing enclave
• Advise system members on export control matters

Award-Winning Research Security Office
• 7 consecutive superior ratings
• 2 DCSA Awards for Excellence in Counter Intelligence
• 2 Cogswell Awards for Excellence in Industrial Security
• Willingness to do classified research
• Numerous classified researchers
• DOD facility clearance at TS level
• DOE facility clearance at Q level
• Controlled-access facility for classified research

Research Security
Research Compliance

Research Compliance

TBN
Chief Research Compliance Officer
Web | Email

The Texas A&M System Office of Research Compliance, working with the A&M System’s 11 universities and 8 state agencies, provides administrative oversight to ensure that each member develops, implements, and maintains an appropriate research compliance program, and to facilitate and coordinate research compliance programs within and between members.

RELLIS Research

RELLIS Research

Dr. David Staack
Associate Vice Chancellor
979.845.4063
Web | Email

David Staack, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University and serves as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research at the Texas A&M University System.

In his administrative role as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Dr. Staack supports multi-university and multi-agency research projects, intellectual property and commercialization, institutional infrastructure projects, and industry/university relations. Previously he served 5 years as the College of Engineering Director of Undergraduate Laboratory Instruction where he led the brand-new design and implementation of a common laboratory and maker space infrastructure and pedagogy for the entire College of Engineering in the Zachry Engineering Education Complex. He also has served on the Faculty Senate and as Chair of the Faculty Senate Research Committee.

In his roles in Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Staack holds the Sallie and Don Davis ’61 Career Development Professor and teaches courses in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, and experimental design. He has an active research program as a principal investigator at the Plasma Engineering and Non-Equilibrium Processing Research Laboratory, where his group investigates various plasma discharge phenomena and applications. His research touches on many diverse fields including green energy technologies, medical device and sensor development, hypersonic and spacecraft propulsion, environmental remediation, oil and gas reforming, drilling technologies, advanced manufacturing, and high-speed diagnostics. His work includes fundamental research and translation to industry with over 60 journal publications and over 50 patent publications.
David Staack has been a professor at Texas A&M University for 13 years, he joined Texas A&M University after receiving his doctorate at Drexel University, working 4 years at Princeton University at the Department of Energy Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, and completing his master’s and undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia.

RELLIS Research
Texas A&M Fort Worth

Texas A&M Fort Worth

Dr. Kim McCuistion
Associate Vice Chancellor
979.458.0243
Web | Email

Dr. Kim McCuistion serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor and Director of the new Texas A&M – Fort Worth campus.  In this role, Dr. McCuistion’s focus is to turn the new campus into a hub for collaboration between key Fort Worth industries and top research, education, and workforce training assets of the Texas A&M System.

Prior to joining the Texas A&M System, she served as the Vice President for External Operations and Dean of the Fort Worth campus at Tarleton State University.  As dean of the Fort Worth campus, she worked with North Texas business and industry leaders, Tarleton faculty and staff, and community college partners to expand existing degree programs and add new ones.  She was responsible for the university’s teaching sites in Waco, Midlothian, and Bryan as well.  Dr. McCuistion also served as Chief of Staff to Tarleton’s President James Hurley and President Emeritus Dominic Dottavio and was a tenured Professor in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Tarleton State University. 

Dr. McCuistion spent 11 years with Texas A&M University-Kingsville before moving to North Texas in 2017.  At A&M Kingsville, she had a split appointment with the Department of Animal, Rangeland, and Wildlife Sciences and the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management. She also served as Dean of Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Honors College for three years.

Dr. McCuistion holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Texas A&M University, a master’s in animal science from Kansas State University, and a doctorate in agriculture from West Texas A&M University.  

Texas A&M Fort Worth
IHA

Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture

Dr. Patrick Stover
IHA Director

979.845.8486
Web | Email

Patrick Stover, Ph.D., is the director of the Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture (IHA) at Texas A&M AgriLife. The IHA is the world’s first research institute to bring together precision nutrition, responsive agriculture, and behavioral research to reduce diet-related chronic disease in a way that considers environmental and economic effects. Supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS) and the state of Texas, the IHA has an annual budget of more than $30 million and includes an embedded USDA-ARS unit.

As an international leader in biochemistry, agriculture and nutrition, Stover’s research focuses on the biochemical, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that underlie the relationships among nutrition, food fortification and human pathologies such as developmental anomalies, neuropathies and cancer. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is former president of the American Society for Nutrition and has served two terms on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board. He received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Clinton, the government’s highest honor bestowed on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.
He has over 23 years of academic leadership experience, serving as vice chancellor and dean for agriculture and life sciences at Texas A&M AgriLife, director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, and director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Saint Joseph’s University, a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from the Medical College of Virginia and completed his postdoctoral studies in nutritional sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.

IHA
Contact

Contact

The Texas A&M University System Office of Research

Phone: 979.458.0243
Fax: 979.458.6044

Address:
Moore/Connally Building
301 Tarrow Street, 7th Floor
College Station, TX 77840-7896

Mail Stop:
1122 TAMU
College Station, TX 77840-7896

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