Four finalists are in the running for NDSU’s vice president for research and creative activity.
They include:
• Jane Schuh, NDSU vice president for research and creative activity
• Peter Kaufmann, associate dean for research and innovation, M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, Villanova University
• Satyendra Kumar, associate vice president for research, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York
• Colleen Fitzgerald, associate vice president for research, Division of Research and Innovation, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Jane Schuh
Some of Schuh’s previous roles include associate director at the North Dakota Agriculture Experiment Station at NDSU, interim dean at the NDSU College of Business and assistant dean for academic programs in the NDSU College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources.
She also has been a fellow in the Food Systems Leadership Institute and fellow in the Lead 21 Leadership Training Program. In addition, she serves on numerous boards, including the NDSU Research and Technology Park, Soul Solutions Recovery Center, Dakota Medical Foundation, Thoreson and Steffes Trust, Emerging Prairie and the University of Nebraska - Omaha Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health.
Schuh earned her bachelor’s degree in zoology and doctorate in cellular and molecular biology from NDSU and served as a postdoctoral fellow in pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Schuh’s research interests include immunology and allergic responses to mold. Her Immunology Laboratory has developed an animal model that closely mimics the human disease caused by the inhalation of Aspergillus fumigatus mold spores.
Schuh gave an open forum presentation July 12.
Peter Kaufmann
Kaufmann’s clinical research has created more than $200 million in research programs. He is noted for establishing the National Institutes of Health Summer Institute on Randomized Behavioral Clinical Trials.
He was interim director for the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and deputy chief and senior scientist at the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science.
He has received awards from NIH, American Psychological Association and The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. He is associate editor of Health Psychology and is co-investigator for an NIH R01 at Denver Health and principal investigator on the COVID-19 CHAMPS Study and Registry.
Kaufmann earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology at Loyola University and his doctorate in psychology at the University of Chicago.
Kaufmann’s research interests span disease prevention, cardiovascular disease risk factors, clinical trials, behavioral and social influences on health and health disparities.
He gave an open forum presentation July 14.
Colleen Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald’s previous roles include program director, Documenting Endangered Languages Program, Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate at the National Science Foundation; director, 2014 Institute on Collaborative Language Research; director of the Native American Languages Lab at the University of Texas at Arlington and director of the ESL/Literacy Service-Learning Initiative at Texas Tech University.
She has been a professor of linguistics, chair and director of American Languages Lab, Department of Linguistics and TESOL at the University of Texas at Arlington; associate and assistant professor of linguistics at Texas Tech University; and visiting assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh.
Fitzgerald earned her undergraduate degree in French from Loyola University followed by her master's and doctoral degrees in linguistics at the University of Arizona.
Her research investigates the phonology of Native American languages and Indigenous language documentation and revitalization.
She is scheduled to give an open forum presentation Wednesday, July 21, at 2 p.m. via Zoom.
Satyendra Kumar
Kumar’s prior roles include honorary professor, Amity University, India; associate vice president for research at Kent State University; president and past president of the International Liquid Crystal Society; program director, Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation; graduate coordinator, Department of Physics, Kent State University; professor of physics, Kent State University; and visiting scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kumar earned his doctorate in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kumar is an internationally recognized researcher in soft-condensed matter systems encompassing liquid crystals, liquid crystal-polymer composites, nanoparticle-doped liquid crystals and organized organic photovoltaics. He was a co-principal investigator in the NSF Science and Technology Center on Advanced Liquid Crystalline Optical Materials at Kent State University.
Kumar is set to give an open forum presentation Monday, July 19, at 2 p.m. via Zoom.
The search committee, chaired by Jo Ann Miller, University Distinguished Professor and director of choral activities, welcomes feedback on the candidates.
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