Arthur Lupia, a longtime leader in science-focused institutions, has been appointed interim vice president for research and innovation at the University of Michigan, effective April 1.

Lupia currently is associate vice president for research, large-scale strategies and is the executive director of Bold Challenges, an initiative that facilitates large-scale research projects.

“Professor Lupia has a distinguished history of scholarship, excellence and leadership and I’m pleased he has agreed to take on this important role in service to the university community,” said President Santa J. Ono.

Ono authorized the appointment, which was announced March 29, and it will be presented to the Board of Regents as an information item at the board’s May 16 meeting. It is part of Ono’s strategic transition plan for maintaining the university’s strong forward momentum in research, scholarship and creative practice.

“I am grateful to President Ono for this opportunity,” Lupia said. “Research at U-M fuels discovery, improves health and enhances quality of life for people across our state and around the world. It is an honor to serve our amazing university in this capacity.”

Lupia succeeds Rebecca Cunningham, who will depart March 31 to become president at the University of Minnesota.

In his new role, Lupia will assume overall responsibility for the excellence and integrity of research across the three campuses and provide oversight to the U-M Office of Research.

Lupia joined U-M in 2001 as a professor of political science and a research professor at the Institute for Social Research’s Center for Political Studies. He was appointed as the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science from 2006-20 and was named the Gerald R. Ford Distinguished University Professor of Political Science in 2020. He also is the recipient of U-M’s President’s Award for Public Impact.

In 2022, he became executive director of Bold Challenges, where he leads collaborations with research centers and institutes across the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses to address societal challenges that intersect with equity, health, infrastructure and sustainability. He was named an associate vice president for research in 2023.

Lupia served from 2018-22 as an assistant director of the National Science Foundation, where he developed strategies to increase the public value of research across NSF’s entire portfolio.

He also co-chaired the governmentwide Subcommittee on Open Science for the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy between 2019-22, convening leaders from more than 30 federal agencies to increase access to, and the public value of, federally funded research.

He is a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity, and Trust. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Rochester, and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in social science from the California Institute of Technology.