Announcing our New Vice President for Research

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to share with you that Dr. Patrick O'Shea will be the next Vice President for Research, overseeing the joint research enterprise at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).

Dr. O'Shea's extensive experience and distinguished scientific background make him well-suited to lead us into a new era of research. Under his guidance, we’re confident we will continue our strong upward momentum.

Dr. O’Shea, who currently serves as Deputy VPR at UMCP, will oversee research across both the College Park and Baltimore campuses, which together spend $1.4 billion on research annually and collectively rank 11th nationally among public institutions, according to the latest NSF Higher Education Research and Development survey. As VPR, Dr. O’Shea will collaborate with the presidents and senior leadership of UMCP and UMB to shape a forward-looking vision and strategy, guided by national trends in funding and the universities’ key strengths in areas such as quantum research, artificial intelligence, data science, health and biomedical advancements, and national security.

Dr. O’Shea previously served as UMCP's vice president for research from 2011-2016. Under his leadership, the university achieved a record level of funding from competitive grants and contracts, made significant strides in areas related to innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization, upgraded and modernized many of its research systems, and launched the strategic research partnership with UMB.

Following his first term as VPR, Dr. O'Shea served as president of University College Cork, Ireland (UCC). Dr. O'Shea has also held positions at Duke University and the University of California, Los Alamos National Laboratory. He received his bachelor's degree in physics from UCC and his master's and doctorate degrees in physics from UMCP.

Dr. O’Shea is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with affiliate appointments in the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics and the Department of Physics. He is a UMCP Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and a fellow of several professional societies.

Recently, in addition to maintaining his active research and teaching programs, Dr. O’Shea worked to advance College Park’s academic offerings in quantum science and engineering, and also played a crucial role in fostering a unified culture supporting research integrity, compliance and operations at the university.

Dr. O'Shea will begin his new position on July 1, 2025. He succeeds Dr. Gregory Ball, who stepped down after serving more than three years as VPR. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Ball for his dedicated service as Vice President for Research. His leadership has been instrumental in advancing our research mission during a critical period of growth and transformation.

We also want to thank the search committee, Committee Chair Samuel Graham, Jr., dean of the A. James Clark School of Engineering at UMCP, and Vice-Chair Christopher O'Donnell, executive vice dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine at UMB, for their diligent work in identifying this exceptional leader.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Patrick O'Shea as he steps into this expanded role and guides our joint research enterprise into the future.

Sincerely,