Cynthia Sides has been promoted to Deputy Vice Chancellor and Director of Investigation Advancement in the Research and Innovation Division. Sides will serve as the division's chief of staff and report directly to the vice chancellor.
"Cynthia Sides brings talent, drive and institutional knowledge to this vital role," said John English, Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. "Her experience as a researcher and administrator, and her passion for connecting innovation with industry, make her the ideal person for the division."
Responsibilities of the parties in this role include:
- leading research development and advance programming and his team to support the enhancement of campus research growth goals;
- serving as primary liaison with campus core centers, institutes, and facilities;
- leader in electronic research management operations and equipment to support all division functions and facilitate campus research activity ;
- spearheading staff research programming and training to enhance campus research growth goals;
- leading undergraduate research team and programming;
- overseeing training and programming on diversity, equity and inclusion in support of an inclusive and productive culture within the division.
Sides has held various roles of increasing responsibility with the university since he served as founding director of the UA IGNITE (Industry Generating New Ideas and Technology Through Education) program in 2013. From 2014-17 Sides served as associate director of the Office of Entrepreneurship, and since then she has been director of the Office of Innovation and Industry Partnerships. Her work has been instrumental, either as principal investigator or co-principal investigator, in obtaining nearly $ 1 million in external funding since 2017.
Sides has the status of adjunct professor and graduate in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and has taught nine semesters of Emerging Technologies in Industry through the graduate school's interdisciplinary Materials Science and Engineering program. He obtained a Ph.D. in chemistry and biochemistry from the U of A and a BA in chemistry and a BA in English from Arkansas Tech University.
"I am honored to continue working with the Research and Innovation Division team in an expanded role and am excited to serve our U of A research community and stakeholders in a broader capacity," said Sides. . "For the past 19 years, I have enjoyed being a part of the university's research mission, watching it transform and grow and viewing it from different lenses, including the graduate student, research associate, principal investigator, and partner of industry and community collaborators. It has been a pleasure working with our wonderful faculty, staff, and students from various departments and programs across campus, and I am pleased that these relationships continue to develop and build through the responsibilities of this position. I look forward to leveraging these perspectives and bringing insights. thoughtful, creative and analytical to new opportunities to facilitate, support and enhance the efforts of our researchers and the vital research and innovation mission of the university. "
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