Appointment of Robin L. Garrell as Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate Division

 
To: Administrative Officers, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, Faculty and Vice Chancellors
 

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Robin L. Garrell as vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate Division, effective July 1, 2011.

A member of the UCLA faculty since 1991, Robin currently serves as professor of chemistry, member of the California NanoSystems Institute and Biomedical Engineering IDP, and special assistant for strategic initiatives in the Office of the Vice Provost for Intellectual Property and Industry Relations. She has served as vice chair (2008-09) and chair (2009-10) of the UCLA Academic Senate, chair of the UCLA College of Letters and Science Faculty Executive Committee (2003-07), co-chair of the UCLA Chemistry and Materials Science Interdepartmental Degree Program (1999-2003) and on many other university, Academic Senate and systemwide committees.

Since 2005, she has been the principal investigator/director of the NSF IGERT Materials Creation Training Program, in which graduate students in physical sciences and engineering engage in interdisciplinary, collaborative research and receive training in professional and entrepreneurial skills. She is also a member of the UCLA Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program faculty and the NIH Enabling Bioanalytical and Imaging Technologies Study Section. In addition to being elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Robin has received a number of awards and honors, including the American Microchemical Society Benedetti-Pichler Award, NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, UCLA Gold Shield Faculty Prize and UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award.

Robin’s research focuses on the behavior of molecules at liquid-liquid and liquid-solid interfaces, and how they control complex phenomena such as adsorption, adhesion, emulsification, wetting and liquid flow. She is synthesizing new types of superparamagnetic nanoparticle catalysts and creating “lab-on-a-chip” devices that utilize droplet microfluidics for multistep chemical reactions. Applications include proteomics, the synthesis of millimeter-scale polymer particles and shells for inertial confinement fusion energy technology, medical diagnostics and high-throughput drug discovery. Robin holds a B.S. in biochemistry with honors and distinction from Cornell University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in macromolecular science and engineering from the University of Michigan.

I want to thank the members of the search/advisory committee for their role in recruiting Robin. Together, they assembled an outstanding pool of candidates for this position. The committee was chaired by Ronald J. Mellor, distinguished professor of history. Other committee members were Antonio E. Bernardo, professor of finance; Alessandro Duranti, professor of anthropology and dean, Division of Social Sciences; Carlos V. Grijalva, professor of psychology and associate dean, Graduate Division; Adrienne G. Lavine, professor and chair, department of mechanical and aerospace engineering; David E. Lopez, professor of sociology; M. Carrie Miceli, professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics; Janina Montero, vice chancellor, student affairs; Chon A. Noriega, professor of film, television and digital media and director, Chicano Studies Research Center; Michael A. North, professor of English; Neil H. Parker, professor of medicine and senior associate dean, student affairs and graduate medical education; Gregory S. Payne, professor of biological chemistry; and Marilyn N. Raphael, professor and chair, department of geography.

I also want to thank Michael Goldstein for his dedicated service as interim dean and vice provost since January 2011, and Claudia Mitchell-Kernan for her distinguished leadership between 1989 and 2010.

I am confident that Robin will provide outstanding leadership as vice provost and dean and will positively impact and advance graduate education at UCLA. Please join me in congratulating her and warmly welcoming her to this new post.

Sincerely,

Scott L. Waugh
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost