President Radenka Maric
Radenka Maric was named the 17th president of the University of Connecticut by the Board of Trustees on September 28, 2022. She had served as UConn's vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship since 2017. As president, she is responsible for Connecticut’s $1.5 billion public flagship university with five campuses, more than 30,000 students, and an extensive network of research and service endeavors.
Dr. Maric also holds the rank of Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and Chair Professor in Sustainable Energy in UConn’s Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering. She formerly served as Executive Director of the UConn Technology Park and Innovation Partnership Building from 2015 to 2017.
As VPRIE, Dr. Maric led UConn’s diverse research enterprise, with more than 300 staff members reporting to her at UConn and UConn Health. Under her leadership, new research awards to UConn and UConn Health doubled, growing from $184 million in FY 2017 to $376 million in FY 2020.
Dr. Maric has spearheaded innovative seed-funding initiatives to support faculty early-stage research and creative work across the university. She also has developed new programs to promote interdisciplinary, multi-campus, multi-stakeholder collaborations, including: Innovation Grant in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM), Scholarship and Collaboration in Humanities and Arts Research Program Awards (SCHARP).
Dr. Maric’s work has included overseeing UConn’s technology commercialization initiatives, including licensing, patenting, and entrepreneurial ventures.
Dr. Maric holds the rank of Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2019), the National Academy of Inventors (2019), and the International Association of Advanced Materials (2020), and is an elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.
Her many recognitions include receiving a Fulbright Chair Professor appointment at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy (2016-2017), a fellowship from the Japan Organization for the Promotion of Science (2012), the Leadership Award from the National Research Council of Canada (2009), and the Hartford Business Journal’s Women in Business Award (2020). Governor Lamont appointed her to serve on the Board of Directors of Connecticut Innovations in 2020, and she is a member Oracle Research Strategy Council.
Dr. Maric is a world leader in technologies for clean energy and sustainability. She has significantly advanced understanding of materials and catalysts and has developed innovative manufacturing processes involved in fuel cell technologies, storage materials, and electrochemical sensors for health applications, leading to higher-performance, commercially viable clean energy systems.
Her scholarly work has resulted in more than 300 articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings, 21 book chapters and invited review articles in major journals, one book published, and two books under preparation. She also has six issued patents and 11 published patent disclosures. She serves on numerous review panels for the Department of Energy, the European Commission, and Horizon 2020 and serves as a board member of the International Academy of Electrochemical Energy Science.