  {"id":214610,"date":"2025-04-28T08:37:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T18:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=214610"},"modified":"2025-04-28T08:37:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T18:37:30","slug":"walton-ovpri-associate-vp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/28\/walton-ovpri-associate-vp\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr>UH<\/abbr> appoints new associate vice president for research and innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_214611\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-214611\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/system-ovpri-walton-associate-vp.jpg\" alt=\"person headshot\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-214611\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/system-ovpri-walton-associate-vp.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/system-ovpri-walton-associate-vp-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/system-ovpri-walton-associate-vp-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-214611\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chad Walton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> announces that Chad Walton has been appointed as the new associate vice president for research and innovation for the 10-campus <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> System. Walton will begin his official duties with the <a href=\"https:\/\/research.hawaii.edu\/\">Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation<\/a> (<abbr>OVPRI<\/abbr>) on May 1, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>In his new role, Walton will direct major systemwide research programs and initiatives to align with <abbr>UH<\/abbr>&#8216;s strategic direction and metrics, including <abbr title=\"Science Technology Engineering Mathematics\">STEM<\/abbr> education and small business innovation programs. He will create research and workforce\/economic development programs to increase community\/industry support and strengthen <abbr>UH<\/abbr>&#8216;s technology transfer efforts. Additionally, Walton will work with the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Foundation to oversee the development of the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> System Office of Strategic Philanthropic Partnerships.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I am deeply honored to serve the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> System in this new capacity,&rdquo; Walton said. &ldquo;<span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s unique strengths position us to lead in areas that matter profoundly to our islands and the broader global community. I look forward to working with faculty, students, industry and philanthropic partners to expand <abbr>UH<\/abbr>\u2019s research enterprise, accelerate commercialization and create workforce pathways that translate discovery into real-world impact.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Walton previously served as assistant vice provost for research and scholarship at <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, where he led the materials science initiative that secured major funding and drew faculty participation campus-wide. He currently serves on several advisory boards and steering committees.<\/p>\n<p>Walton is a trained bioengineer who developed technology for National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health-funded grants, with expertise in vaccine development, acoustics-based gene delivery, and molecular cardiology, holding several U.S. patents. He earned degrees from Northern Arizona University, University of Calgary and <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa. After his <abbr title=\"Doctor of Philosophy\">PhD<\/abbr>, he worked at the John A. Burns School of Medicine before moving to the Department of Surgery, where he served as trauma research director for <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s Trauma System.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We are extremely pleased to welcome Chad to <abbr>OVPRI<\/abbr>, as he represents another integral component of our recent reorganization and restructuring to accommodate the growth of our operations in both size and complexity,&rdquo; said <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Vice President for Research and Innovation Vassilis L. Syrmos. &ldquo;As we continue to be a driver of research, innovation, and knowledge both globally and locally, Chad\u2019s experience, skillset, and familiarity with <abbr>UH<\/abbr>, will be important to our success, especially in our current federal funding environment.&rdquo;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Walton will direct major systemwide research programs and initiatives to align with <abbr>UH<\/abbr>&#8216;s strategic direction and metrics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1193],"tags":[1505,1467,1363,1579,313,947],"class_list":["post-214610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","tag-innovation","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-research","tag-stem","tag-uh-system","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214610"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218184,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214610\/revisions\/218184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}