After one scrapped search and a bit of silence surrounding the new crop of candidates, California Polytechnic State University recently announced the three individuals under consideration for the school’s presidency. Among them? Thomas Skalak, UVA’s Vice President for Research and a professor of biomedical engineering.
Skalak visited the California Polytechnic Institute on Wednesday December 1. The San Luis Obispo Tribune reported that Skalak addressed a public forum and said he hoped to encourage multidisciplinary collaboration at the school. According to the Tribune, "Skalak’s ideas about cross-discipline collaborations include potential solar energy applications, new media projects that could include working with companies in Hollywood and Los Angeles, and finding ways to develop educational partnerships with emerging high-performing economies in Central America and South America."
Skalak became the chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2001, and is the youngest person to serve as president of the National Biomedical Engineering Society. He also helped start the UVA Venture Summit, which brings venture capitalists to Charlottesville to network with UVA researchers. The event reportedly attracted over $10 billion during each of the past two years; the third annual summit is slated for March 3-4.
"Mr. Skalak is an extraordinary researcher in his own right," Chief Operating Officer Leonard Sandridge told C-VILLE today. Sandridge said he had no further information about where Skalak stands with regards to the presidency, but said "I am sure he’ll be successful in whatever he undertakes." Requests for comment from Skalak were not immediately returned.
The Tribune does not mention an advertised salary for the Cal Poly presidency. Skalak, appointed the Vice President of Research in 2008, earned roughly $200,000 that year. His current salary is listed at $275,000.
"We would hate to lose him, but we certainly understand we have become a place where people who are looking for presidents turn," said Sandridge.
