Temple President Neil D. Theobald has appointed Michele Masucci to the new role of vice president for research administration. The appointment was affirmed by Temple’s Board of Trustees at their July 14 meeting.

Masucci, who served as vice provost for research, will assume responsibility for managing grant services, research development, regulatory compliance and technology transfer for all research activities across Temple’s Main and Health Sciences campuses and Fox Chase Cancer Center, which had previously been distributed among several different offices.

Theobald said consolidating these responsibilities will result in a more efficient and streamlined system of providing the highest level of service to faculty researchers.

“We want to do everything possible so that our researchers can be maximally productive, and this appointment is a major step in that direction by making the administration process faster, more accessible, more reliable and easier to use,” Theobald said.

He said that he sought out Masucci for this responsibility because she has effectively managed the exponential growth of Temple’s research enterprise for three years.

“As an experienced researcher herself, Dr. Masucci understands the importance of having an infrastructure that promotes and facilitates research productivity,” Theobald said. “She recognizes the importance of applying the highest ethical standards to the conduct of research, and she understands how vital rigorous compliance with research rules and regulations is to research universities such as Temple.”

Research administration covers everything from preparing and tracking grant proposals to negotiating awards and contracts with sponsors in private industry and government, including the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, to overseeing technology commercialization and business development. Regulatory compliance involves things such as proper biosafety procedure assurance, animal care and use monitoring, human subjects protection, and research integrity.

“I share President Theobald’s passion and zeal for advancing the research mission of Temple University,” Masucci said. “Temple has been my home for nearly the last two decades, and I am honored and excited to take on this role. Our goal is to enhance research productivity so that Temple reaches its rightful position among the nation’s premier research institutions.”

Since being named interim vice provost for research in 2012, Masucci has overseen a rapid rise in research productivity, including an annual high of $187 million in awards and $230 million in research expenditures last year. Temple has also moved into the top 100 institutions for both overall research expenditures and research expenditures from federal sources, according the National Science Foundation, as well as entered into several significant strategic research agreements and alliances.

“I look forward to continuing to steward this growth in research and to further develop the support systems needed by the faculty to manage their funded research programs,” said Masucci. “The increase in research and research expenditures highlights the importance of the university’s strategic efforts to support faculty researchers in their efforts to advance discoveries, the development of new knowledge, and the education of a next generation of researchers and scholars.”

Masucci joined Temple’s geography and urban studies faculty in 1997 and is a professor of geography and director of the Information Technology and Society Research Group. She continues to be an active researcher at Temple’s Urban Apps & Maps Studios.

–Preston Moretz and Brandon Lausch