Donald Levy appointed as V.P. for Research, National Laboratories, succeeding Rosenbaum

Donald Levy, the Albert A. Michelson Distinguished Service Professor in Chemistry and the College, has been appointed the University’s Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories, President Zimmer has announced. The appointment was effective Monday, Jan. 1.

As Vice President, Levy will work closely with Zimmer, Provost Thomas Rosenbaum, Deans and the Directors of Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to advance research at the University and the laboratories.

“Don Levy has the intellectual standing as well as the administrative talents to take on this important role,” Zimmer said. Levy succeeds Rosenbaum, who became Provost of the University on Monday, Jan. 1.

“While his responsibilities will enhance our work across the University, this is a particularly important time for our relationships with Argonne and Fermilab,” Zimmer said. “The recent decisions by the U.S. Department of Energy to award the management contracts for these national laboratories to the University and our academic and management partners increase our oversight responsibilities, enhance our ability to contribute to the advancement of the laboratories and offer new opportunities for significant research collaborations.”

As Vice President, Levy will play an important role in representing the University and projecting its research accomplishments. He will have responsibility for promoting research activity and related matters of University-wide policy, while supporting Deans with their sponsored research efforts. He also will oversee the Office of Technology and Intellectual Policy (UChicagoTech) and the Office for Partnerships and Technology.

Levy joined the University faculty in 1967. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

He is a former Chairman of the Chemistry Department, and he played an important leadership role in planning the new Gordon Center for Integrative Science. A physical chemist, Levy was a leader in developing and using supersonic jet cooling to study the structure of molecules.

Levy is editor of the Journal of Chemical Physics. His awards include the E. Bright Wilson Award in Spectroscopy and the Ellis Lippincott Award from the Optical Society of America. He received his B.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.