Following a national search, three finalists have been selected as candidates for vice provost for research, innovation and economic development at UALR.

The finalists and their campus visit dates are Dr. Amit Goyal of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, June 9-10; Dr. Andrew Myers of Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, June 11-12; and Matt McKillip of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, on June 17-18.

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Zulma Toro appointed Dr. Drew Kumpuris, a Little Rock cardiologist and incoming member of the UALR Board of Visitors, to serve as chair of the campus search committee.

The new vice provost will serve as head of department-based research projects and several unique research centers that provide support for the university and the region. These centers include the Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences; Emerging Analytics Center; and TechLaunch.

More about the candidates:

Dr. Amit Goyal, Ph.D., MBA, is a corporate fellow and distinguished scientist and a Battelle Distinguished Inventor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he also serves as chair of the Corporate Fellows Council. Goyal has more than 25 years of project management and administrative experience as principal investigator in technical projects of a diverse nature and involving multiple organizations. He is the founder, president and chief executive officer of two companies: TapeSolar Inc., a private-equity funded, solar company and TexMat LLC, an IP holding company. Dr. Goyal received a degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India, a master’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from University of Rochester, New York, and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering, also from the University of Rochester. He has executive business training from the Sloan School of Management at MIT, an executive MBA from Purdue University, and an international executive MBA from Tilburg University in The Netherlands.

Matt McKillip directs research and innovation across Purdue’s eight Indiana campuses to broaden entrepreneurship and commercialization opportunities and leads the statewide vision for the new Purdue Polytechnic Institute. He recently launched an on-campus business accelerator for students and faculty and secured a $13 million workforce development grant for central Indiana. Over the course of his career, McKillip has played a major role in launching a state certified technology park/incubator, founding his own high tech companies, starting Procter & Gamble’s successful subsidiary in Portugal, and forming Techpoint, Indiana’s initiative for the state’s technology-based economy. He has a master’s degree in science/organizational leadership and a bachelor’s degree in science/computer information systems from Purdue.

Dr. Andrew Myers is executive director of the Kansas Polymer Research Center at Pittsburg State University, where he fosters technical and business development and oversees a $2 million annual budget. Myers has a range of experiences and achievements in his role, including the creation of the PSU Research Foundation, a non-profit agency that holds intellectual property, manages royalties, and encourages research. Myers also formerly headed the Business and Technology Institute at Pittsburg State University, which focused on technology-based economic development. While at TDA Research in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, he wrote proposals under the federal Small Business and Innovation Research program, coordinated a self-funded research group, and interacted with academic, industrial, and governmental partners, leading to three patents and more than $2.6 million in research funding.