New Vice President for Research Named

Texas Tech University President Guy Bailey April 14 announced that Taylor Eighmy has been named vice president for research. Eighmy’s appointment will be effective July 1. He comes to Texas Tech from the University of New Hampshire where he is interim vice president for research and director of the strategic initiatives office. The vice president for research will play a key role in Texas Tech’s goal to achieve tier one status in Texas. “For Texas Tech to become the state’s next national research university, we must continue to expand our already solid research program,” said Bailey. “I believe that Dr. Eighmy is the person to lead us as we strive to double our research expenditures. At the same time, we must continue to support the excellent scholarship and creative work being done in the arts and humanities.” The vice president of research is the principal research officer for the university overseeing and encouraging innovative research and scholarship in all fields. The office also directs the Office of Research Services, the Northwest Texas Small Business Development Center, the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center, the Center for Biotechnology and Genomics and the Institute for Comparative and Experimental Medicine. The vice president also manages two research facilities, the Experimental Sciences Building and the East Loop Research Building. “I am very honored to have been chosen to serve as the vice president for research at Texas Tech,” said Eighmy. “Texas Tech is an outstanding university and has a wonderful opportunity to strategically grow externally funded research, promote economic development, and further its innovative scholarship and creative activity. I look forward to being part of the team to realize the development goals embraced by President Bailey, Chancellor Hance, and the State of Texas for Texas Tech. I really look forward to working with President Bailey, his team and the entire community to fulfill this vision of Texas Tech as a top public research university.” Eighmy has served as the interim vice president for research at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) since 2007 and the assistant vice president for research and director of strategic initiatives at UNH since 2004. His focus has been on expanded research initiatives with the federal government and the private sector, research and development supporting economic development and peer mentoring of faculty around excellence in scholarship. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Tufts University and master’s and doctoral degrees in civil engineering from UNH. He is a former faculty member and center director in civil engineering at UNH. He has published extensively in the environmental engineering and environmental science fields. He is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board.