Growing our university and improving our community through research

At its most romantic, a breakthrough can be the product of serendipity culminating after months of hard work. A researcher may uncover the missing piece that is crucial to making his or her project a success after having a random conversation with a colleague from a seemingly unrelated department.

Even though casually dropping by a colleague’s office to talk about ongoing projects feels like a relic of a bygone era thanks to COVID-19, UAA’s new Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Aaron Dotson, Ph.D., is still able to facilitate those connections.

“That’s one of the most rewarding pieces of this job, watching people succeed at what they do and helping them into that success,” said Dotson. “This position has turned me on to things I didn’t know UAA was doing. People kind of stay in their own proximity and the cool thing about this office is getting to know people in that way opens the door to make new connections. So in some sense being that matchmaker, going, ‘Hey, did you in engineering know someone in health has very similar ideas even though you’re in separate disciplines? A conversation between the two of you might be worthwhile.’”

As associate vice chancellor for research, Dotson’s role is to support research and creative activity at UAA at all levels — from conception to completion and commercialization. To do that, the overarching Office of Research is divided into three functions, starting with the Office of Sponsored Programs, which helps researchers prepare project proposals and secure funding and awards for their work. Next is the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance, which works to maintain safety and ethicality on all projects while adhering to federal guidelines and considerations unique to Alaska. Finally, Seawolf Holdings looks to the future by supporting researchers with the licensing of intellectual property by securing patents and exploring possible commercial applications for their work.  

Ultimately, all three offices work in harmony to accomplish a single function.

“The biggest goal that I want to accomplish is to make sure that faculty and staff feel like they are well supported and able to do research and creative activities that can grow our university,” said Dotson. “The other is to embrace who we are at UAA and to promote our research or creative activity regardless of origin or funding.”

Before formally stepping into his current role in July 2020, Dotson began working in an interim capacity starting July 2019. Even before then, Dotson was a professor and associate dean for research in the College of Engineering. Maintaining his own research portfolio, some of his projects involved wastewater treatment and providing clean water to rural Alaska communities, often collaborating with the State of Alaska, Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Fortunately, Dotson’s new position will still allow him to keep his teaching and researching responsibilities, which will not only help him engage with students, but to better assess the ongoing needs of his fellow researchers. 

“Having my own research program not only allows me to continue to do what I really love that got me to this place, but experience what other principal investigators have to go through when they do research on campus,” said Dotson. “So while I am shaping those processes, I’m making sure that when I do it’s something that makes sense to me also as a researcher.”

Even though UAA’s researchers are momentarily spread out, Dotson notes that everyone still remains unified in their commitment to better serving the state.

“What struck me as exciting and represents why I came here is the research we do is applied to meet specific challenges that we have,” said Dotson. “It’s exciting to watch researchers pursue projects that impact the daily lives of everybody who lives around us. We’re not studying ethereal phenomena. What we’re studying will lead to the improvement of life in Alaska.”

 

Written by Matt Jardin, UAA Office of University Advancement