Hartford Business Journal

12 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 14, 2022 R&D Inc. Interim President Maric leads UConn's efforts to become a top-flight research university By Robert Storace rstorace@hartfordbusiness.com C ompetition among U.S. colleges to win an increasing share of the billions of dollars in federal and private research funding available annually has reached a fever pitch in recent years, as schools look to boost their reputation, recruit top talent and use the money to spur economic development, including potential startup companies. UConn has put itself squarely in the middle of that battle, and has seemingly doubled down on efforts to raise its profile as a research university by recently naming Radenka Maric interim president. Prior to the new role, the 55-year- old Maric oversaw UConn's research efforts as vice president for research, innovation and entrepreneurship, and she's not wasting time in making bold predictions. She said UConn can reach its goal of hitting $500 million in annual research funding in the next five years; in 2019 former President Thomas Katsouleas predicted the school would reach that mark in a decade. UConn is off to a good start, having earned a record $375.6 million in federal research grants in fiscal year 2021, up significantly from the previous year's record of $285.8 million. Maric, who spent years as a chemical and biomolecular engineering professor, has been a central player in those efforts, lobbying donors as well as state and federal officials for more funding (fundraising increased to a record high of $93.3 million in fiscal year 2021), and retaining and recruiting top research faculty. For example, Maric spearheaded the recruitment of Fumiko Hoeft, a professor in UConn's Department of Psychological Sciences and director of the Brain Imaging Research Center. Hoeft is a leading researcher on dyslexia, who said Maric is the reason she left the University of California, San Francisco, in August 2019. "I was not looking for another job and I was very happy where I was," Hoeft said. "Radenka was the main reason I came here. It was her presence and charisma and how down-to-earth she was and her willingness to listen that was powerful and really made me think that we can make changes [at UConn]. Her style blew me away." It didn't hurt that Maric, who is fluent in four languages, spoke and wrote to Hoeft in Japanese, her native tongue. Since arriving at UConn, Hoeft has doubled her research funding from $10 million to $20 million, she said. Gov. Ned Lamont, who recently appointed Maric to Connecticut Innovations' board of directors, said her work in research has been vital to both UConn and the state. "Over the last several years, Radenka Maric has been instrumental in strengthening UConn's research and innovation programs, which go hand-in-hand with our administration's economic development and job growth goals," he said. Opportunities, challenges Martin Van Der Werf, associate director of editorial and postsecondary policy for the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University, said there are many reasons why universities seek to beef up their research funding. "Research is widely celebrated and sought after in higher education as the highest demonstration of intellectual curiosity," he said. The hope is some of that research translates into new discoveries in AT A GLANCE Radenka Maric Interim President UConn Education: Bachelor's of science in materials science, University of Belgrade; Master's of science in materials science and energy, Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan; Ph.D. in materials science and energy, Kyoto University Age: 55 Previous Job Titles: Vice President for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UConn; Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UConn; Program Manager of the National Research Council, Vancouver Resident: West Hartford Born: Yugoslavia Good to know: Fluent in English, German, Japanese, Croatia Hobbies: An accomplished cook who is well-known at UConn for her culinary skills; skilled in sewing and design and makes many of her own clothing. Interests: Climate change, the humanities, developing novel materials for fuel cells. Interim UConn President Radenka Maric inside her lab at the UConn Health building in Farmington. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER

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