Office of the Vice President for Research
The UNM Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is committed to the advancement, facilitation, and celebration of cutting-edge discovery and innovation. At UNM, we believe research is education, and as New Mexico’s premier R1 institution, we are uniquely positioned to provide an unparalleled education for students and world-class opportunities for faculty.
OVPR Leadership
Ellen Fisher, Ph.D.
A chemist and materials scientist with academic leadership experience, Dr. Ellen Fisher serves as the Vice President for Research at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and is a Professor of Chemistry. She came to UNM in 2021 from Colorado State University (CSU) where she served as the Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives (2017-2021) and the Senior Faculty Advisor (2014-2017) in the Office of the Vice President for Research. Prior to these appointments, Prof. Fisher served as the Chair of the Department of Chemistry at CSU and as the founding director of the interdisciplinary, cross-college School of Advanced Materials Discovery.
Dr. Fisher has published over 160 original peer-reviewed articles that span diverse topics in plasma science, laser spectroscopy, materials chemistry, chemistry education, team science, and the responsible conduct of research. Dr. Fisher has graduated 22 Ph.D. and 6 M.S. students, and she has mentored ~50 undergraduate research students, many of whom have gone on to a range of graduate and professional programs. Prof. Fisher is a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Vacuum Society (AVS). She has served on the editorial boards of several technical journals and is currently an Executive Editor of the American Chemical Society journal ACS-Applied Materials and Interfaces. She is also co-founder of Divergent Science, LLC, a team science consulting group focused on utilizing the science of team science and empowering teams to put research into practice.
Dr. Fisher received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from Texas Lutheran University (formerly College) in 1986 (summa cum laude) and a Ph.D. in physical-analytical chemistry from the University of Utah in 1991. She performed postdoctoral research at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque before joining the faculty at Colorado State University in 1993.
Communications from VPR Ellen Fisher
Omathanu “Om” Perumal, Ph.D.
A chemist and materials scientist with academic leadership experience, Dr. Ellen Fisher serves as the Vice President for Research at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and is a Professor of Chemistry. She came to UNM in 2021 from Colorado State University (CSU) where she served as the Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives (2017-2021) and the Senior Faculty Advisor (2014-2017) in the Office of the Vice President for Research. Prior to these appointments, Prof. Fisher served as the Chair of the Department of Chemistry at CSU and as the founding director of the interdisciplinary, cross-college School of Advanced Materials Discovery.
Dr. Fisher has published over 160 original peer-reviewed articles that span diverse topics in plasma science, laser spectroscopy, materials chemistry, chemistry education, team science, and the responsible conduct of research. Dr. Fisher has graduated 22 Ph.D. and 6 M.S. students, and she has mentored ~50 undergraduate research students, many of whom have gone on to a range of graduate and professional programs. Prof. Fisher is a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Vacuum Society (AVS). She has served on the editorial boards of several technical journals and is currently an Executive Editor of the American Chemical Society journal ACS-Applied Materials and Interfaces. She is also co-founder of Divergent Science, LLC, a team science consulting group focused on utilizing the science of team science and empowering teams to put research into practice.
Dr. Fisher received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from Texas Lutheran University (formerly College) in 1986 (summa cum laude) and a Ph.D. in physical-analytical chemistry from the University of Utah in 1991. She performed postdoctoral research at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque before joining the faculty at Colorado State University in 1993.
Melissa Emery Thompson, Ph.D.
Melissa Emery Thompson received her PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University in 2005 and arrived at UNM as a postdoctoral fellow in 2008. She is currently a Professor of Anthropology, and director of the Comparative Human and Primate Physiology Center in the Interdisciplinary Sciences Cooperative. She has served as Associate Chair of Anthropology (2019-2021) and member of Chair of the Faculty Senate Research Policy committee (2018-2021). In her role as Assistant VPR, she will work to reduce barriers to research participation across campus and promote effective communication between faculty and administration.
Dr. Emery Thompson co-directs the Kibale Chimpanzee Project, where she coordinates long-term, non-invasive studies of wild chimpanzee health, behavior, and physiology. She also collaborates widely on research investigating human health, behavioral endocrinology, and life history evolution. She has published over 120 original research articles and has received over $4 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and others.
David Hanson, Ph.D.
Dr. Hanson received his PhD in 1999, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and he spent 2.5 years as a post-doctoral fellow at the Australian National University. He joined the faculty at the University of New Mexico in 2002, where his research focuses on physiological, ecological, and energy-related aspects of photosynthesis in plants and algae, particularly elements of the carbon reactions and water relations.
Dr. Hanson has over 50 peer-reviewed publications, and has received multiple major grants from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, NASA (for research on the International Space Station), and the Economic Development Agency. He regularly collaborates with Sandia National Labs and Los Alamos National Lab, and he has co-founded a start-up (Growvera, Inc.). In addition, he helps UNM students participate in the annual NASA MINDS challenge, leading them to two national grand championships in the first four years.
His role in the Office of the Vice President for research is focused on external relations, building regional coalitions by working with local, state, federal and Tribal governments, along with regional educational and research institutions to find areas of alignment that can attract new resources and contribute to economic development. These efforts also include working to increase industry and private sector engagement with UNM through coordinated workforce training in the region, development of new internship opportunities, increasing industry sponsored research, and supporting IP/tech transfer efforts.
Patrick Bridges, Ph.D.
Patrick Bridges is the Special Assistant for Research IT to the Vice President for Research, Director of the Center for Advanced Research Computing, and a Professor of Computer Science. He is an expert in high performance computing systems, particularly operating systems and communication systems software. He and his collaborators, including other UNM faculty and students as well as collaborators from a wide range of DOE national laboratories, have research and developed key system software innovations on HPC application performance measurement and monitoring, virtualizing large-scale computing systems, and optimizing communication system performance for high-end computing systems and applications.
Bridges received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Mississippi State University in 1994 and completed a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Arizona in 2002. He joined the University of New Mexico in January of 2003 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010 and Full Professor in 2017. At UNM, he served as the Associate Chair of Computer Science from 2015 to 2017, Chair of the UNM Research IT Advisory Board from 2017 to 2020, and Director of the Center for Advanced Research Computing since 2016. He also served as System Software Track Chair of the ACM/IEEE Supercomputing Conference in 2019, general co-chair and finance chair of the 2019 IEEE Cluster Computing Conference, and as a member of the IEEE Cluster Steering Committee from 2018-2020. Bridges has published over 150 research articles, and over-seen over $2.5M in external research funding from a wide range of sponsors.
OVPR Staff
Fiscal Services Tech, OVPR and Category 3 Research Centers
(505) 277-0436
Sr. Web Designer
(505) 277-0436
Administrative Coordinator
(505) 277-2949
Information Technology Services Manager
(505) 277-6128
Associate Director, Office of Sponsored Projects
(505) 277-2665
Technical Analyst II
(505) 277-1742
Program Coordinator, Grand Challenges and Research Development Office
(505) 277-0436
Communication & Marketing Manager
(505) 277-1742
Human Resources Representative
(505) 277-1386
Technical Analyst II
(505) 277-1742
Senior Director of Development
(505) 313-7633
Executive Assistant
(505) 277-0712
Research Translation Officer
(505) 277-6128
Administrative Professional Intern
(505) 277-6128
Postdoctoral Affairs Program Manager
(505) 277-6128
Research Development Office Director
(505) 313-0211
Program Coordinator, OVPR and Category 3 Research Centers
(505) 277-6128
Grand Challenges Sr. Program Manager
(505) 277-6128
OVPR Leadership Special Communication
- Letter: Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Program - Oct. 2023
- Letter: Preparation for Possible Federal Shutdown - Sept. 2023
- Letter: Associate VPR Om Perumal's Message to Campus - Sep. 2023
