Fridriksson named interim vice president for research
Posted on: June 21, 2021; Updated on: June 21, 2021
By Jeff Stensland, stenslan@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-3686
Arnold School of Public Health researcher Julius Fridriksson has been named the University of South Carolina’s interim vice president for research beginning July 1.
Fridriksson is director of the National Institutes of Health-funded Center for the Study of Aphasia Recovery, which conducts groundbreaking research to help stroke victims recover from brain damage. A native of Iceland, he joined UofSC in 2001 and is a SmartState chair and distinguished health sciences professor in communication sciences and disorders. He also serves as co-director of the McCausland Center for Brain Imaging.
The Office of Research is responsible for guiding the university’s overall research enterprise, promoting a culture of excellence and providing critical support to individual researchers.
“I’m looking forward to finding new ways to encourage multidisciplinary collaboration on critical research projects and moving our research enterprise forward,” Fridriksson said.
Prakash Nagarkatti, who led the Office of Research for nearly a decade, will assume a new role as senior research advisor to interim UofSC President Harris Pastides. During Nagarkatti’s tenure, the university set new records for external research funding and sponsored awards, which totaled more than $279 million across the UofSC system in fiscal year 2020. Nagarkatti also helped secure a $3.8 billion contract from the Department of Energy to manage and operate Savannah River National Laboratory through collaboration with Battelle.
I’m looking forward to finding new ways to encourage multidisciplinary collaboration on critical research projects and moving our research enterprise forward.
Julius Fridriksson, interim vice president for research
Nagarkatti currently directs the NSF EPSCoR Center, the NIH Center of Research Excellence in Inflammatory and Autoimmune Diseases and the COBRE Center for Dietary Supplements and Inflammation. He also serves as chair of the national EPSCoR/IDeA Foundation Board.
“I wish to welcome Julius to his new role and thank Prakash for his tremendous contributions to the university through his leadership of the Office of Research,” Pastides said. “The university’s research activities are central to our institutional mission of serving the state, nation and world through scientific discovery.”
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