Mridul Gautam, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation | Professor of Mechanical Engineering
University of Nevada, Reno
Founding President
Nevada Research and Innovation Corporation
mgautam@unr.edu | (775) 848-2427 (M)
Mridul Gautam is a nationally recognized higher education leader, accomplished researcher, educator, and innovation executive with 37 years of experience at leading U.S. research universities. As Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, Dr. Gautam leads the University's research, innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization enterprise. He is responsible for strengthening the institution's capacity as a high-impact land-grant university while fostering research excellence, entrepreneurship, and economic development throughout Nevada. As Founding President of the Nevada Research and Innovation Corporation and architect of the Nevada Center for Applied Research and the University of Nevada, Reno Innevation Center, he has built northern Nevada's research and innovation ecosystem. As a member of the University's President's Leadership Team and Budget Advisory Committee, Dr. Gautam advises on major institutional priorities and policy matters while helping address issues of strategic importance to the University, the State of Nevada, and the nation's higher education enterprise.
His leadership has helped guide the University through a period of sustained growth in research productivity, enrollment, retention, and graduation. He has ensured that Research and Innovation remains focused on supporting student success, expanding research opportunities, and broadening participation in research, drawing on his own background to expand opportunity for students and faculty from all walks of life.
He is a disciplined and transparent steward of institutional resources who has positioned every organization he has led for sustained growth and institutional excellence, and his career is best characterized by the high-performing teams he has built.
Through consistent communication with faculty, staff, students, and external partners, Dr. Gautam has strengthened the connection between the University's research enterprise and its land-grant mission of improving people's lives. Working closely with Nevada System of Higher Education leadership, policymakers, industry leaders, community organizations, and academic partners, he has helped align research investment with Nevada's economic priorities, supporting innovation, job creation, and workforce development while helping retain talented graduates within the state.
By advancing faculty success, Dr. Gautam has strengthened the University's standing as a Carnegie R1 doctoral university. Under his leadership, the University achieved the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification in 2020, APLU Innovation and Economic Prosperity designation, and, two years ahead of schedule, met nearly all research, innovation, discovery, and infrastructure goals in the University's Strategic Plan 2015-2021. Annual research expenditures have grown from approximately $87 million when Dr. Gautam joined the University in late 2013 to nearly $195 million today, while the number of postdoctoral scholars and research faculty has more than doubled. At West Virginia University, he helped strengthen the University's research infrastructure and organization during the period that culminated in Carnegie R1 recognition.
Dr. Gautam's work building a vibrant research and innovation ecosystem in northern Nevada extends through sustained collaboration with regional economic development partners, including the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) and the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED), integrating the University's research enterprise with the state's broader economic diversification strategy. The University anchors northern Nevada's vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem through the entities he created – the Nevada Center for Applied Research, Innevation Center, and the Nevada Research and Innovation Corporation.
Dr. Gautam has been a lifelong champion of the promise and mission of land-grant research universities. He earned his bachelor's degree in engineering from a land-grant university in India and his doctorate from a land-grant research university in West Virginia, and has devoted his career to serving land-grant institutions and improving lives through research, education, innovation, and public service.
Under his leadership, Research and Innovation provides the services, expertise, and infrastructure that enable faculty, students, and staff to excel in their research, scholarly, and creative endeavors while advancing innovation and commercialization. The division promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, assists researchers in securing and managing extramural funding, and maintains a safe, healthy, secure, and ethical research environment that supports nationally competitive scholarship. Dr. Gautam is a steadfast advocate for the University's faculty, students, and staff and has established numerous awards and recognition programs to celebrate their accomplishments. As an administrator, he has worked to cultivate leadership among faculty by empowering them to assume greater responsibility for strategic and programmatic initiatives traditionally managed within the administration. He established the Research Communications Office to advance and amplify strategically important accomplishments across the University community. Prior to joining the University of Nevada, Reno, Dr. Gautam served as Associate Vice President for Research and Vice President of the WVU Research Corporation at West Virginia University.
As former Chair of the EPSCoR/IDeA Coalition Board, Dr. Gautam served as a national voice representing the 28 EPSCoR/IDeA states and territories in Washington, D.C., and continues to serve on its Board of Directors. He also serves or has served on other national boards including the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities' Commission on Economic and Community Engagement, the APLU Council on Research, the Desert Research Institute Research Park Board of Directors, and the National Academies' Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable. He previously served on the APLU Research Task Force on Laboratory Safety and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Mobile Sources Technical Review Subcommittee. Dr. Gautam is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Dr. Gautam is an internationally recognized researcher and expert in heavy-duty mobile source exhaust emissions, in-use emissions analysis, aerosol sampling, and particulate matter measurement, characterization, and control. He has led large interdisciplinary, multi-institutional research programs and has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on more than $95 million in funded research. Dr. Gautam has published more than 400 technical publications, including refereed journal articles, conference proceedings, and published abstracts. He currently serves as Principal Investigator for the NSF Regional Innovation Engines Type 1 Award and the Nevada Knowledge Fund-supported Nevada Center for Applied Research program. In addition to licensing technologies from his research, he is the recipient of the Outstanding Aerosol Paper Award from the American Industrial Hygiene Association and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award from SAE International, and multiple Outstanding Researcher of the Year awards at West Virginia University.