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Alicia Knoedler named Miami’s vice president for research and innovation

Alicia Knoedler will become Miami University’s vice president for research and innovation (VPRI) on Nov. 1.

She is the former executive associate vice president for research and executive director of the Center for Research Program Development and Enrichment at the University of Oklahoma.Alicia Knoedler

Alicia Knoedler

Knoedler will replace Michael Crowder, associate provost and dean of the Graduate School, who is leading the Office of Research and Innovation on an interim basis.

Jason Osborne, Miami’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, said Knoedler specializes in crafting, leading and implementing initiatives of strategic value to research across all disciplines and a diverse range of research organizations.

“Dr. Knoedler is a national leader in developing university-based research enterprises and talent. She has had substantial success in helping individuals craft career-long scholarship trajectories, has a strong record of supporting underserved disciplines like the arts and humanities, and has led efforts to diversify research leadership nationally,” Osborne said. “I believe she will quickly empower our faculty, staff and students toward more competitive, successful and impactful research programs, fellowships and awards.”

Prior to her positions at the University of Oklahoma, she served to develop and grow research capacity within various roles at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Notre Dame.

Knoedler wrote in her cover letter for the position that she has cultivated and leveraged nontraditional opportunities in developing her approach to research leadership. She recently served as the director of team innovation within Exaptive, Inc.

“What appeals to me about the VPRI position at Miami University are the needs for a holistic approach to strategically advance research/scholarship/creative activity, innovate in areas of research support and operations, embolden researchers at all levels to pursue research challenges of significant relevance and value across a variety of contexts and stakeholders, and assist in the production of and advocacy for collective research outcomes,” she wrote.

Knoedler earned a bachelor’s degree psychology from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and a master’s and doctorate in cognitive psychology from Purdue University. Her research interests focus on various memory processes and optimal conditions for remembering as well as dynamic team behaviors and the contributions of team translators as catalysts within research teams.

Osborne noted that over the course of her career, Knoedler has developed a number of programs in support of the development and expansion of research, scholarship and creative activity.

She co-led Oklahoma’s statewide collaborative EPSCoR Track 1 Research Infrastructure Improvement Award, funded by the National Science Foundation, which focused on the socio-ecological approaches to studying climate variability in Oklahoma.

Knoedler also served on the Oklahoma Governor’s Science and Technology Council, which reports to the Oklahoma secretary for science and technology.

In service and leadership to research development at the national level, Knoedler is a founding member, former member of the board of directors and was president and immediate past-president of the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP). She was recently named one of 13 NORDP inaugural fellows.

Knoedler has collaborated with the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ (APLU) Council on Research to develop and lead training, professional development and leadership opportunities for senior research leaders and those aspiring to such positions.

She is a member of the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s business and operations advisory committee and vice chair of the NSF-wide committee on equal opportunities in science and engineering, drawing a connection between the NSF’s commitment to broadening participation and the commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging from audiences, institutions and organizations across the nation.