Robert Nobles, associate vice chancellor for research, has been named interim vice chancellor for research effective September 1.
Vice Chancellor Taylor Eighmy will leave the university at the end of the month to become president of the University of Texas at San Antonio.
“Robert is well qualified to help us continue the great momentum for increasing research grants and contracts, strengthening our partnerships, and supporting the research, creative activity, and outreach efforts of our faculty and students. He brings great knowledge, passion, and optimism to the role and has worked closely within the division and across the university around many important matters,” said Chancellor Beverly Davenport in a message sent Wednesday to the campus community.
Nobles came to UT in 2013. Prior to that, he served as the research compliance officer and a public health faculty member at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
He will continue to serve as chair of the Campus Institutional Compliance Committee, the Campus Safety Committee, and the Commission for Blacks. He is the co-investigator on a five-year $4.9 million National Institutes of Health award for the Program for Excellence and Equity in Research (PEER).
He earned a bachelor’s in molecular biology and a master’s in public health from Florida A&M University and a doctorate in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
“I will appoint a search committee in the coming weeks so we can begin the search process for the next vice chancellor for research early this fall,” Davenport said.