Assistant Vice President of Research Regulatory Affairs
Carnegie Mellon University (OVPR)
Application
Details
Posted: 24-Jan-25
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Type: Full Time
Sector:
College / University
Preferred Education:
Masters
Additional Information:
Employer will assist with relocation costs.
Internal Number: 121
The Office of the Vice President for Research at Carnegie Mellon University is seeking a highly motivated, resourceful, and trustworthy individual to support the senior leadership team as Assistant Vice President of Research Regulatory Affairs working with the Chief Research Operations Officer. The office oversees the university-wide strategic initiatives and operational functions of Carnegie Mellon’s $600 million research enterprise and associated top-ranked technology transfer and startup activities, which span the university’s academic colleges, research institutes and centers, and the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center. Globally recognized for academic excellence and interdisciplinary research, this position is key Carnegie Mellon’s ambitious plans to deliver innovative and impactful solutions to the most pressing grand challenges of our time.
About CMU
A member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), CMU is a global, research-intensive private university with more than 1,500 faculty, 17,000 students, and more than 120,000 alumni. In 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked CMU #24 among national universities, and Times Higher Education ranked CMU at #24 among world universities. CMU is home to the country's #1 ranked programs in artificial intelligence, computer engineering, cybersecurity, management information systems, mobile/web applications, and software engineering, the #8 undergraduate engineering program, the #7 undergraduate business program, and is one of a small number of academic institutions in the nation boasting a fully-fledged Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). CMU's confluence of scholarly excellence, robust federal and industry interface, and heritage of innovation has consistently placed it among the world's most dynamic and impactful research institutions. Central to its research impact is CMU's strong track record of technology transfer and industry partnerships: between 2016 and 2020, CMU's IP-related activity—patents filed and inventions disclosed—grew 23 percent, and CMU faculty and students have spun out more than 400 startups that together have raised more than $7 billion in follow-on funding.
The University is known for its distinctive culture, which champions interdisciplinary inquiry and collaborative efforts in a technology rich environment. CMU's global footprint fosters cooperation across borders, including from its campuses in Australia, Qatar, and most recently Rwanda, where it is making a commitment to empower the next generation of African leaders and innovators. With more than a dozen degree-granting locations, as well as a growing number of research partnerships around the world, CMU is truly a global institution. CMU faculty are known for inspiring students to think creatively, interpret with insight, and solve major societal, scientific, and technological challenges. Current and former faculty and alumni include 20 Nobel Laureates, 79 members of the National Academies, 12 Turing Awardees, 10 Academy Award winners, 116 Emmy Award winners, and 44 Tony Award winners. Exceptionally talented students, roughly 47% undergraduate and 53% graduate, are drawn to the University's commitment to innovative education and training and its outstanding programs across its seven schools and colleges. CMU's annual budget is over $1.2 billion with total research expenditures of $447 million (FY2020).
After a storied history dating to the early 1900s, in 1967, the Carnegie Institute of Technology merged with the Mellon Institute, a science research center founded by the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, to become known as Carnegie Mellon University. Today, CMU is a dynamic institution that has exceptional impact in the world. Although it is among the youngest of the nation's top universities, CMU's extraordinary success emanates from its deeply held core values and a unique heritage of innovation. It is a place of creativity, pragmatism, and ambition, with a tradition of strategically focusing its efforts and resources in areas where it can lead, then pursuing those areas with startling intensity. CMU is firmly committed to academic freedom, tenure protection, and shared governance, providing a fertile environment for faculty success. The University facilitates collaboration across its seven schools and colleges through organizational mechanisms and incentives, such as numerous joint appointments and a dedication to recognizing contributions outside one's main field. CMU has long embraced diversity as a core value that is central and indivisible from the pursuit of intellectual and artistic excellence, and for more than two decades it has made increasing diversity in every constituency and building a supportive and nurturing community a strategic priority.
Research at CMU
Carnegie Mellon is known as a hotbed of innovative research, from the founding of the nation's first Robotics Institute in 1979, to the world's first program in engineering and public policy more than 50 years ago. The entrepreneurial mindset of its faculty, staff, and leadership have made the University a pioneer in societally transformative technologies such as the wireless campus, autonomous transportation and smart infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing, among others. Research and creative expression span the arts, humanities, social sciences, science, and engineering as well as the fundamental to the applied, from blue-sky curiosity driven research in the academic units, to restricted research and large-scale prototyping at the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC), to fully classified projects at the SEI.
CMU's strengths span the institution:
CMU researchers have enriched learning science through research conducted at the school's LearnLab, a cross-disciplinary international laboratory for advancing the practical science of robust student learning. CMU scholars are pinpointing how children learn languages with partners at the University of Chicago and the George Washington University.
CMU chemists are working with colleagues at Yale University as part of the landmark National Institutes of Health-funded Somatic Cell Gene Editing Consortium, aimed at accelerating genome editing research and the development of new classes of therapeutics.
Experts at the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, a university-wide research initiative, develop and demonstrate technologies, systems and policies needed to accelerate the transition toward a more sustainable future.
CMU is bringing together AI and social sciences researchers from across the country in the AI Institute for Societal Decision Making to develop human-centric AI for societal good that harnesses the power of data and improved understanding of decisions to create better and more trusted choices.
CMU’s SEI formed the AI Security Incident Response Team to help ensure the safe and effective development and use of AI by analyzing and responding to threats and surety incidents emerging from advances in AI and machine learning.
CMU's unique strengths in robotics, AI, and advanced materials are a growing and major attraction for industry partners. Coupled with the efforts of CMU's Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, the University is a leader in introducing research innovations into the global marketplace and a driving force of economic development activity.
CMU researchers distinguish themselves with an international reputation for the breadth of their work as well as research support, consistently receiving funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Sloan Foundation, and the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development, among others. Of CMU's $579M million in expenditures in FY2022, 70% of funding was derived from the federal government, with the majority being from the Department of Defense (DoD) and the NSF. The University has diversified its funding portfolio over time, with FY2022 being a record year for industry and non-profit funding at $68 million.
The Office of the Vice President of Research (OVPR)
The OVPR is a large and complex organization with a total staff of approximately eighty-five talented individuals that directly aids the administration and upkeep of CMU' s more than 100 research centers and institutes across campus.
The OVPR bridges academic units, interfacing with the Deans of CMU's schools and colleges on major initiatives and meeting regularly with a newly formed Council of Associate Deans for Research to foster dialogue and collaboration around research efforts both within and across units. Government Relations, which resides in the OVPR, leverages its long-standing presence in Washington, D.C. to bring new funding opportunities to CMU's talented faculty. And University Advancement forms a key partnership with the VPR around long-term corporate and foundation engagement, including opportunities for major gifts.
The Office oversees the SEI, which has a budget of nearly $150 million annually, and whose director reports to the VPR. Through the OVPR, the considerable capabilities and funding of the SEI are brought into constellation with faculty within colleges and departments across CMU. The Office is keenly attuned to the security implications of controlled, restricted, and classified research in an environment of international collaborations, and the VPR aids the University in determining the balance between the protection of IP, national security, and economic competitiveness.
Finally, the OVPR fosters an entrepreneurial climate that gives faculty and students tremendous freedom and strongly encourages the pursuit of bold ideas that translate into real-world impact. Thanks to the efforts and investments of CMU, the University of Pittsburgh, and other entities, the Pittsburgh Region has renewed and established itself as a technology hub for both startups and large corporations, including Duo Lingo, ANSYS, Bosch, Google, Meta, Apple, NVIDIA, SAP, and the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory. Through the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and the Center for Business Engagement, the OVPR drives economic prosperity in the region, nationally, and globally.
Given the scale and influence of the CMU research enterprise, the University has been building and improving research capabilities of the University, including expanding external relationships with government and industry funding entities, increased collaboration for research capabilities across the University, improving the organization and efficiencies of the research operations, and managing the complexities of research at this level. The OVPR seeks an AVP of Research Regulatory Affairs to raise the profile of this capability as the university becomes accredited for human and animal research.
The Assistant Vice President (AVP) Research Regulatory Affairs reports to the Chief Research Operations Officer and is a key member of the Office of the Vice President for Research. The AVP Research Regulatory Affairs lead’s CMU’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) Office, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) Office, and the Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment program. The AVP is responsible for related policy and program developments and improvements, supervising teams, and addressing compliance issues in a sensitive and service-oriented manner.
Specific Responsibilities
Provides strategic oversight of CMU’s Institutional Review Boards (IRB), Animal Care and Use Committee, Institutional Biosafety Committee and Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment programs.
Works proactively, in collaboration with other relevant offices, to obtain and maintain AAHRPP and AAALAC accreditation for CMU’s Human Research Protection and Animal Care and Use Programs.
Manages the annual budget, staff assignments and resources in an efficient manner.
Exercises supervisory authority, including but not limited to hiring, promoting and managing performance. Mentors and coaches staff, fostering a culture of customer service, capability, empowerment and success.
Directs strategic planning initiatives and identifies and implements program improvement activities in close collaboration with direct reports, other OVPR leaders and key campus stakeholders.
Ensures that research programs under the AVP’s purview are service oriented and compliant with federal, state and university policy.
Oversees the development, implementation and documentation of appropriate training and education programs.
Provides subject matter expertise, ensuring that the OVPR has appropriate knowledge, background, and detailed information for decisions and activities.
Responds to questions or concerns from internal customers and makes recommendations on the appropriate course of action.
Provides for appropriate monitoring and quality assurance activities, and revises programming, policies and procedures to respond to changing needs and requirements.
Oversees response to inspections, and prepares for and facilitates accreditation site visits, for areas under the AVP’s purview.
Investigates reported or suspected violations. Supports the formulation of corrective action plans and university responses to external reviews and findings. Collaborates with university legal counsel as needed.
Participates in appropriate professional organizations such as PRIM&R to keep apprised of emerging compliance issues and best practices.
Other duties as assigned.
Key Selection Criteria
Flexibility, excellence, and passion are vital qualities within Carnegie Mellon University. Inclusion, collaboration and cultural sensitivity are valued competencies at CMU. Therefore, CMU seeks a team member who is able to effectively interact with a varied population of internal and external partners at a high level of integrity. This is someone who shares CMU values and who will support the mission of the university through their work.
Required Qualifications and Skills
Education: Master’s degree preferred.
Experience: A minimum of 5 years of experience leading related research administration functions.
One or more relevant research compliance certifications.
Extensive knowledge of relevant statutes, regulations, and guidelines, as well as experience managing investigations of violations.
Strong analytical, organizational, and team-building skills.
Excellent oral/written communication skills, as well as diplomacy and a high level of professionalism.
Ability to develop and implement effective training programs for diverse audiences.
Ability to work well under pressure when necessary and to respect and reconcile different points of view.
Familiarity with electronic research administration platforms.
Experience managing change and process improvements, driving consistency of operation / administration in a highly interdisciplinary environment.
Experience providing effective leadership to remote and hybrid teams.
Additional
Preference for the role to be onsite - located in Pittsburgh, PA.
A non-tenured faculty-track appointment in an appropriate college would be considered for this position.
Joining the CMU team opens the door to an array of exceptional benefits, available to all full-time Carnegie Mellon University employees. Experience the full spectrum of advantages, from comprehensive medical, prescription, dental, and vision insurance to enticing retirement savings programs. Unlock potential with tuition benefits and take well-deserved breaks with generous paid time off and holidays. Rest easy knowing you're covered by life and accidental death and disability insurance. For a comprehensive overview of the benefits awaiting, explore: https://www.cmu.edu/jobs/benefits-at-a-glance.
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