Office of Medical Communications

Kirk Dombrowski, Ph.D., vice president for research and economic development (Photo: Bear Cieri, Seven Days)

(AUGUST 28, 2024) Kirk Dombrowski, Ph.D., vice president for research and economic development at the University of Vermont, spoke with Seven Days about the university’s efforts to secure its future by building up its research.

UVM’s leaders believe that building the school’s research muscle—winning more grants, attracting more high-profile scientists, finding synergies, such as the Water Resources Institute—is essential to securing the future of the university and its place in Vermont.

Thanks in part to this intensified focus, UVM expects to reach a long-worked-for milestone in December: designation as an R1 university, a measure of a school’s commitment to research and graduate studies—and a coveted marker of prestige in the academic world.

“If we can be seen as a university in the center of a tech hub, in the center of an innovation space, that’s what is going to keep us viable,” Dombrowski said.

Overall, UVM’s biggest grant-getter is the Larner College of Medicine, which receives $90 million to $100 million annually in research funding—about 35 percent of UVM’s total, according to Sara Helms Cahan, associate vice president for research.

Increasing the emphasis on research won’t change UVM’s broader mission, according to UVM alum and trustee Frank Cioffi. “It’s not an either/or.”

This story was also covered by WCAX-TV.

Kirk Dombrowski, Ph.D., vice president for research and economic development (Photo: Bear Cieri, Seven Days)

(AUGUST 28, 2024) Kirk Dombrowski, Ph.D., vice president for research and economic development at the University of Vermont, spoke with Seven Days about the university’s efforts to secure its future by building up its research.

UVM’s leaders believe that building the school’s research muscle—winning more grants, attracting more high-profile scientists, finding synergies, such as the Water Resources Institute—is essential to securing the future of the university and its place in Vermont.

Thanks in part to this intensified focus, UVM expects to reach a long-worked-for milestone in December: designation as an R1 university, a measure of a school’s commitment to research and graduate studies—and a coveted marker of prestige in the academic world.

“If we can be seen as a university in the center of a tech hub, in the center of an innovation space, that’s what is going to keep us viable,” Dombrowski said.

Overall, UVM’s biggest grant-getter is the Larner College of Medicine, which receives $90 million to $100 million annually in research funding—about 35 percent of UVM’s total, according to Sara Helms Cahan, associate vice president for research.

Increasing the emphasis on research won’t change UVM’s broader mission, according to UVM alum and trustee Frank Cioffi. “It’s not an either/or.”

This story was also covered by WCAX-TV.