Vice Provost for Research Update
December 9, 2020
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that Irv Epstein, University Professor and Henry F. Fischbach Professor of Chemistry, will be returning to the Provost’s office as the Interim Vice Provost for Research starting January 1, 2021. Irv is no stranger to university administration at Brandeis. He has served in a number of senior leadership positions at Brandeis, including as chair of the Department of Chemistry, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, and interim provost.
Ed Hackett, the current Vice Provost for Research will be retiring at the end of this December. During Ed’s time as Vice Provost for Research we extended benefits for postdoctoral fellows; we updated our Intellectual Property policy that was last revised in 2004; the Foster Lab was reorganized; Rebecca Menapace in the Office of Technology Licensing and the Hassenfeld Family Innovation Center increased funding support for SPARK, SPROUT, I-CORPS, pitch training, and the “hack my PhD” events; Ed provided research grant writing training and he oversaw the review process for the Provost Research Innovation awards. Ed has been active outside of Brandeis as a reviewer for NSF and the European Research Council. As an accomplished scholar whose research has focused on the sociology of science, especially the study of science and technology policy, Ed was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2017.
Please join me in extending our best wishes to Ed as he enters retirement and gratitude to Irv for serving as Interim Vice Provost for Research.
Best regards,
Lisa
Lisa M. Lynch
Provost