Announcing Dr. Arthur “Skip” Lupia, Ph.D. as New Chief Research Officer
The following message was sent to all faculty and staff in the Georgetown University community.
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing today to share that Arthur “Skip” Lupia, Ph.D. , has been appointed the Georgetown University Senior Vice President and Chief Research Officer. He will also serve as the James Curley, S.J. Professor, with tenure, in the Department of Government in the Georgetown College of Arts & Sciences. Dr. Lupia will begin on August 15.
As we announced in January , the new position of Chief Research Officer reports to the president and will lead university-wide research administration, working in partnership with academic leadership, the university’s research community and our research partners. This builds on the initial success of the launch of the university’s Joint Office of Research Administration (JORA), Office of Research Oversight (ORO) and Office of Human Subject Protections (OHSP). In this new structure, we will bring together those units with the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) under the new Chief Research Officer.
Dr. Lupia joins us after serving as vice president for research and innovation at the University of Michigan (U-M). In 2022, he was appointed to guide the U-M Bold Challenges initiative, an effort to support collaborations of the research centers and institutes across multiple University of Michigan campuses. He first joined the University of Michigan in 2001 as a professor of political science and a research professor at their Institute for Social Research, he served as the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor, and in 2020, he was appointed the Gerald R. Ford Distinguished University Professor.
He has rich experience at the national level, having served from 2018 to 2022 as assistant director of the National Science Foundation and as co-chair of the Subcommittee on Open Science for the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2019 to 2022.
A graduate of the University of Rochester and the California Institute of Technology, he also currently serves co-chair of the National Academies of Science, Engineering,
and Medicine’s Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity, and Trust.
At a time of significant change in the national research landscape and uncertainty surrounding federal research funding, both incoming President Peñalver and I were deeply impressed by Dr. Lupia’s exceptional leadership, his extensive experience advancing large-scale research initiatives, his understanding of the evolving federal policy environment, and his ability to build partnerships that strengthen institutional research excellence. His strategic vision and proven record of success will be invaluable as Georgetown continues to expand its research enterprise and amplify its impact in service to the common good.
I would like to thank Carlo Tornatore, M.D., professor and chair in the Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, and chair and Neurologist-in-Chief at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, and the entire search committee for their dedication in conducting a comprehensive, nationwide search for the leader of this important new role at Georgetown.
Please join me in welcoming Skip to Georgetown.
Sincerely,
Robert M. Groves
Interim President