Effective immediately, Wayne State University’s (WSU) Division of Research, Office of the Vice President for Research, and Office of Technology Commercialization have been restructured into a single research hub: WSU’s Division of Research & Innovation (DORI).

According to Ezemenari M. Obasi, Ph.D., vice president for Research & Innovation, this new name is reflective of the Division’s reorganization and the critical importance of the university’s strategic research and innovation goals that align with the university’s Prosperity Agenda.

“In this ever-changing world, it is imperative that we modernize our way of doing business in order to accelerate our capacity to make a collective impact on some of our most pressing societal challenges,” said Obasi. “As we work to expand our research capacity focused on collaborative discoveries, community engagement and outreach, we will advance our capabilities and competitiveness by focusing on numerous initiatives that will help us reach our vision of being a Top 100 Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) institution over the next five years.”

These initiatives include:

• moving the Office of Technology Commercialization into the Division under new leadership to increase innovations stemming from WSU research and industry partnerships;
• strategically investing in new thematic, team-science, research areas that align WSU’s capabilities with local, state, and federal societal challenges;
• improving customer service, investing in our infrastructure, and streamlining processes to better serve our faculty in their sponsored research efforts;
• actively engaging with Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC to aid in opening doors with federal funding agencies and elected officials that will advance the success and visibility of the scholarship of our faculty; and
• leaning on key performance indicators to drive strategies that are in alignment with growing the research enterprise, and aid in decision making, accountability, transparency, benchmarking and resource allocation.

The Division of Research & Innovation includes Research and Development, Sponsored Program Administration, Research Integrity Office, Office of Technology Commercialization, Research Business Operations, Research Communications and WSU approved Centers/Institutes that report to the Vice President for Research and Innovation.

“Dr. Obasi and his talented team are well on their way to transforming Wayne State’s research operations. With his leadership and expertise, he will guide our faculty, staff and students to advance our research capabilities and competitiveness,” said President Kimberly Andrews Espy. “The Division of Research & Innovation is working hard to make Wayne State University a leader in innovative research that connects to academic excellence and community impact. It is important that the Division’s name reflects its important mission to accelerate our competitiveness in the research and innovation arenas.”