A national search is underway for the University of Missouri-Kansas City Vice Chancellor of Research.

The position is an important one: UMKC is the only public research university in greater Kansas City, and works in partnership with the community to solve its greatest challenges through research-infused learning, service and discovery activities.

“UMKC is developing bold strategies to keep pace with the ever-evolving vanguard of innovative research and the quest for research funding in higher education,” said UMKC Chancellor Mauli Agrawal. “The person in this role will lead the way for UMKC to help us accomplish our aggressive research goals in biomedical sciences, technology, social sciences and the humanities.”

In its new strategic plan, UMKC has the goal of increasing annual research grants from $29.2 million in 2018 to $60 million by 2028.

UMKC is uniquely positioned to expand its research capabilities — in health sciences, engineering, the humanities and beyond. The UMKC Health Sciences Campus at Hospital Hill includes schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Health Studies and Pharmacy. The campus is part of the UMKC Health Sciences District featuring a dozen partners including Truman Medical Centers and Children’s Mercy. The UMKC School of Computing and Engineering partners with leading local and regional companies in research including Honeywell and Cerner. UMKC also has significant interdisciplinary research capabilities in national security and data science.

“UMKC is developing bold strategies to keep pace with the ever-evolving vanguard of innovative research and the quest for research funding in higher education,” said UMKC Chancellor Mauli Agrawal. “The person in this role will lead the way for UMKC to help us accomplish our aggressive research goals in biomedical sciences, technology, social sciences and the humanities.”

Agrawal hopes to fill the role by May. Effective Jan. 15, Mark Nichols, Ph.D., will serve in the role on an interim basis. In 2016, Nichols joined UMKC and has served as associate dean for research at the School of Nursing and Health Studies and interim chair of biomedical and health informatics at the School of Medicine.