The state’s flagship university has gone through significant leadership changes over the past year.
First Thomas Katsouleas resigned suddenly after less than two years as the school’s president, and then his interim replacement Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, who was also CEO of UConn Health, announced in January he was stepping down to take a private sector job with health insurer Humana.
In an effort to create some short-term stability, UConn’s board of trustees appointed Radenka Maric as interim president.
While Maric may not be a household name to the general public, she’s been a rising star at UConn.
Maric has served as vice president for research since 2017 and oversees the school’s $375 million research operations. Since Maric’s arrival, research funding at UConn has soared from about $184.5 million in 2017 to a record-breaking $375 million in the 2020-2021 academic year.
She recently predicted the school can reach $500 million in annual research funding in five years, an aggressive goal.
Previously, she served as the inaugural executive director of UConn’s $132 million Innovation Partnership Building, which houses specialized equipment and research centers and serves as a nexus for industry-academic partnerships.
She is also a board of trustees distinguished professor and the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund professor of sustainable energy in UConn’s Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Maric worked for large and small corporations and federal labs in Japan, Canada and the U.S., before coming to Connecticut 12 years ago. She is an internationally renowned expert in batteries and fuel cells and was appointed by Gov. Ned Lamont to serve on the board of Connecticut Innovations, the state’s quasi-public venture fund.