About & Leadership

Mike Malone was appointed Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement in August of 2009. Prior to his appointment as leader of research and engagement, he served as Dean of the College of Engineering from 2004-2009 and was named to the Isenberg Professorship in 2003, created to enhance interdisciplinary teaching and research between fields of management, engineering, and science. Previously, he served as department head for the department of chemical engineering from 1997-2002. Mike also served as interim provost in 2023-24.

Laura Vandenberg was appointed Associate Vice Chancellor and Vice Provost for Research and Engagement in January 2023. Laura previously was the associate dean for undergraduate academic affairs in the School of Public Health & Health Sciences and is a professor of Environmental Health Sciences. In 2023-24, she served as Acting Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement. Laura continues to conduct research in an NIH- and foundation-supported research lab. She holds a PhD in Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology from Tufts University School of Medicine and a BS in Biology from Cornell University.

Jesse Mager was appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Support Services in September 2024. He previously served as Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research & Engagement, Compliance & Support Services for almost a year. Dr. Mager has been at UMass Amherst since 2007 and is currently a Professor in the Department of Veterinary & Animal Sciences. He held the role of the Chair of the UMass Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for 10 years. A geneticist by training, Dr. Mager’s NIH-funded research program focuses on reproductive sciences, development of the early embryo, and epigenetics.

Karen Moré was appointed the new Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research & Engagement, Research Compliance and Security in October 2024. Karen will provide strategic vision and oversight for our offices of Research Risk Management, the Human Research Protection Office, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and other groups focused on research security and integrity. Karen came to us from the University of Connecticut, where she most recently held the position of Director of Research Integrity and Compliance for UConn and UConn Health.  She holds a Master of Science in Natural Resources, a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Environmental Planning and Management, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, all from UConn. She also completed coursework focused on civil procedure, contracts, property & health care law, and regulation from the UConn School of Law. 

 

Carl Rust was appointed Assistant Vice Chancellor for Corporate Engagement (AVCCE) in July 2023. Carl will serve as the central point of contact and coordination for university engagement with industry. He comes to us from the University of Massachusetts President's Office where he has been serving as the Executive Director for Industry Engagement and Business Development. He spent 25 years at the Georgia Institute of Technology in various roles, including the Associate Director and Industry Liaison Officer for the NSF-sponsored Engineering Research Center on Packaging and then in various other roles focused on high-level industry collaborations, innovation ecosystems, strategic partnerships, and international initiatives. Rust holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from The Citadel.
 

Lynne McLandsborough was appointed Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research & Engagement and Director of the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (CAFE) in September 2025. CAFE continues the university’s land-grant heritage and manages federal funding through the Massachusetts Agriculture Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension. Previously, Lynne served as the interim Director of the CAFE for two years. She is a professor and former department head of the Food Science Department, where her research focuses on antimicrobial delivery systems for applied cleaning and sanitization in the food industry. She holds a PhD and MS in Food Science from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and an undergraduate degree in Microbiology from Miami University. 

Jim Watkins was appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement, Strategic Initiatives in November 2025. Jim will provide leadership for developing partnerships and program frameworks for securing new channels of extramural research support for the university. He has been a UMass faculty member since 1996. He is currently the Eugene M. and Ronnie Isenberg Professor of Integrative Science and serves as Director of the Institute for Hierarchical Manufacturing and MassNanoTech. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and his Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Academy of Inventors, and founder of Myrias Optics, Inc., a UMass spinout in the field of metaoptics.