Stein Sture has stepped down after a decade in which contract and grant revenues from public and private sources have more than doubled and new research initiatives and collaborations have fanned out across the campus and beyond the nation鈥檚 borders.
During Sture鈥檚 tenure, CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 sponsored research awards to the campus from the public and private sectors rose from $257 million to $425 million. Sture shepherded a number of successful efforts in a wide variety of areas of research ranging from space and environmental sciences to engineering, biomedicine, social sciences and humanities.
鈥淪tein Sture has been a guiding force in helping to shape our scholarship and research successes on a national and global scale,鈥� said CU-麻豆影院 Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. 鈥淯nder his watch our research enterprises with government agencies and industry have expanded and strengthened dramatically.鈥�
Terri Fiez, former director of strategic initiatives and professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Oregon State University, began her tenure as CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 new vice chancellor for research last week.
CU-麻豆影院 is ranked first in the world in public university funding from NASA and is leading NASA鈥檚 $671 million MAVEN mission that arrived in 2013. CU-麻豆影院 scientists led the design of a $70 million instrument now riding on the Hubble Space Telescope to look back at the origins of the universe, and is world leader in studying extreme 鈥渟pace weather鈥� that can harm satellites, power grids and ground communications.
Sture retains his appointment as a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CAE). Much of his time will be devoted听 to space science and aerospace initiatives involving the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, NASA and related industry partners.
Sture will work closely with CU-麻豆影院 Provost Russell Moore to build on the strengths in aerospace-enabled science and technology in order to address topics related to discoveries, innovations and environmental challenges. 鈥淪tein has been the university鈥檚 chief research advocate, and we look forward to his steady hand and vision in this endeavor,鈥� said Moore.
Sture played a key role in the establishment of the BioFrontiers Institute in 2012, a revolutionary $160 million research and teaching facility where scientists and students are working on pressing societal challenges ranging from issues like cancer and heart disease to tissue engineering research and the influence of the human microbiome on health and disease.
鈥淭he United States clearly remains in the lead when it comes to making progress and breakthroughs in all aspects of health sciences,鈥� Sture said. 鈥淲e have made a lot of good investments in the health and natural sciences at CU-麻豆影院, including attracting and retaining some of the top faculty in the world.鈥�
Sture also has played a prominent role in the university鈥檚 new Sustainability, Energy and Environment Complex (SEEC) on 麻豆影院鈥檚 East Campus, which is bringing together faculty, staff and students from a variety of departments, centers and institutes focused on energy and environmental challenges.
He also was key in the selection of the United States as one of five international hubs for Future Earth, an ambitious 10-year research initiative to address global environmental change solutions and actions. Future Earth鈥檚 U.S. headquarters will be at CU-麻豆影院 and managed jointly by CU-麻豆影院 and Colorado State University.
鈥淭he university continues to be engaged in research related to the environment and sustainability for the betterment of our 麻豆影院 oceans, air and land,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important that we make scientific observations as well as advise policy makers on ways to help mitigate problems and improve the quality of all life.鈥�
In addition, Sture helped steer the construction of a new facility for the Institute of Behavioral Science, a听 $14 million effort completed in 2010 and which includes facilities for programs involving violence prevention, natural hazards, health, environment and population studies. 鈥淯nfortunately, violence is a recurring theme in our society,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we feel we are making great strides at CU-麻豆影院 in understanding and preventing violence, particularly youth violence.鈥�
Sture said the university administrators take great pride in engaging large numbers of undergraduates as well as graduate students in laboratory and field research across broad disciplines. 鈥淪cholarship is really the main purpose of both basic and applied research 鈥� we are creating new knowledge through discovery, which is our charge as a major research university.鈥�
Sture previously served as dean of the Graduate School, associate dean for research in the engineering college, and chaired the CAE department six years. He has advised 35 doctoral students and 47 master鈥檚 students and authored or co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications.
Sture said that the excellence of the university鈥檚 research excellence has been recognized through a number of different rankings. U.S. News and World Report, for example ranks CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 geosciences program as the second best in the world, and seven CU-麻豆影院 graduate engineering specialty programs were ranked in the top ten in the nation by the magazine this year. The Academic Ranking of World Universities rated CU-麻豆影院 34th in the world in 2015.
鈥淲e are always pleased to be recognized,鈥� said Sture. 鈥淏ut in the end it鈥檚 all about people. One thing I will miss is the rich, daily engagement I鈥檝e had with students, postdoctoral students, faculty and staff 鈥� it鈥檚 these interactions around the campus and with our partners that are the most important as we move forward.鈥澨�