Dr. Ramesh Kolluru has been named interim vice president for Research at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
That position had been held by Dr. Robert Twilley, who was named executive director of the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program in June. Twilley had served as vice president for Research at UL Lafayette for two years.
“Dr. Kolluru wears many hats at the university. He has served as assistant vice president of Research, so he has a solid understanding of the university’s research resources and its research goals,” said Dr. Joseph Savoie, UL Lafayette’s president.
Kolluru is executive director of UL Lafayette’s National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies Institute. NIMSAT is a homeland security and emergency management institute that was created after hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck south Louisiana in 2005. NIMSAT researchers foster crucial private-public partnerships during times of crisis, while also providing ways to rebuild economies after disasters.
Kolluru is also director of the university’s Center for Business and Information Technologies, which was created in 2003 to support UL Lafayette’s economic development agenda through research, development, and technology transfer.
He led the university’s establishment of the Center for Visual and Decision Informatics, a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center developed in partnership with Drexel University. Launched in February, CVDI is the first NSF Center of Excellence in Louisiana. It will help decision makers in government and industry improve how they interpret and analyze huge amounts of information.
Kolluru has been employed by UL Lafayette since 1996.