The Board of Governors of the University of British Columbia has approved the appointment of Science Dean Dr. John Hepburn to the position of Vice President, Research, effective October 1, 2005.
Dr. Hepburn succeeds Dr. Indira Samarasekera, who was selected as President of the University of Alberta last November.
“I am delighted that Dr. Hepburn is taking on this very important responsibility,” says UBC President Martha Piper. “His international reputation as an outstanding researcher, coupled with his commitment to research at the undergraduate level, makes this an ideal appointment in an area of central importance.”
A keen proponent of interdisciplinary research, Dr. Hepburn conducts research on the interface between physics and chemistry. He studies molecular beams and laser chemistry, working in the area of advanced spectroscopy and imaging research, and was this month elected to the Royal Society of Canada.
Dr. Hepburn, who has been Dean of the Faculty of Science at UBC since 2003, received his BSc in Chemistry in 1976 from the University of Waterloo, and his PhD in 1980 from the University of Toronto, where his supervisor was Nobel prizewinner Dr. John Polanyi.
Following a period as a NATO Fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Hepburn taught Chemistry and Physics at the University of Waterloo from 1982-2001, chairing the Chemistry Department for two years. In 2001, he became Head of Chemistry at UBC before being appointed Dean of Science two years later.
UBC researchers conduct more than 5,000 investigations annually, and attracted $343 million in research funding in 2003/04. With 268 new patents filled and 380 technology licensed in 2003/04, UBC ranks ahead of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University in US patents filled and startups formed per US$100 million of research funding. UBC research has spun-off 115 companies and attracted $1.4 billion in private investment.
A full curriculum vitae, including a list of Dr. Hepburn’s publications, is available at www.president.ubc.ca/president/vpr/HepburnJcv2005.pdf.
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