New Vice President for Research Named
April 14, 2009
By: Sally Post
President Guy Bailey names Taylor Eighmy as vice president for research effective
July 1.

Eighmy comes from the University of New Hampshire where he is interim vice president
for research and director of the Strategic Initiatives Office. Download his bio. Click to enlarge image.
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.