Dear Colleagues:
I am writing to share that Roger Wakimoto will step down from his role as vice chancellor for research, innovation, and creative activities and retire from UCLA on Dec. 31, 2026. Since his appointment in 2017, Vice Chancellor Wakimoto has strengthened UCLA’s research and creative enterprise by expanding funding opportunities, building strategic partnerships, advocating at the highest levels of government and investing in the people and infrastructure that enable discovery at UCLA.
During Vice Chancellor Wakimoto’s tenure, UCLA’s research enterprise has grown significantly. External funding has increased by 60%, industry-sponsored research has nearly doubled and UCLA has jumped from 12th to 6th nationally in research expenditures, reflecting the vitality of our faculty research engine.
As an advocate for UCLA, he has cultivated strong relationships with federal agencies, hosted agency leaders on campus to showcase our extraordinary research community and served on the national committee that proposed the FAIR model to protect research infrastructure funding. At the federal and state levels, Vice Chancellor Wakimoto has championed sustained investment in academic research, helping highlight the essential role universities play in advancing discovery, driving economic growth, creating jobs and preparing the next generation of leaders. Among these efforts, his advocacy supported the creation of the $100 million California Climate Action Initiative.
Vice Chancellor Wakimoto has also expanded access to research funding. He streamlined the limited submission opportunity process and boosted awareness of funding opportunities across UCLA. In 2022, his office launched UCLA’s Public Impact Research Awards to recognize faculty whose scholarship delivers measurable good in the world and reflects the university’s enduring commitment to service. Additionally, his office added “creative activities” to the vice chancellor title and formally embraced scholarly and creative activities alongside research, underscoring UCLA’s commitment to academic excellence across the arts, humanities and social sciences.
During COVID-19, Vice Chancellor Wakimoto chaired a group that managed UCLA’s shutdown and return to on-campus research activities. He was named the chancellor’s designee for the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and assumed responsibility for a broad portfolio of institutes, centers and university initiatives, including the Congo Basin Institute, Semel Institute, California NanoSystems Institute, Broad Stem Cell Research Center, Office of Advanced Research Computing and UCLA Research Park.
An atmospheric scientist specializing in mesoscale meteorology, Vice Chancellor Wakimoto was a member of the UCLA atmospheric sciences faculty from 1983 to 2005, including serving as department vice chair and chair. He left UCLA to direct the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s (NCAR) Earth Observing Laboratory and then became NCAR’s director. Before returning to UCLA in 2017, he was assistant director for the National Science Foundation Directorate for Geosciences. Most recently, he was named chair of the Board of Directors for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
We will initiate a search for his successor immediately. Please join me in thanking Vice Chancellor Wakimoto for his many contributions as he retires from UCLA.
Sincerely,
Darnell Hunt
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost