Editor's note: High-resolution, color photos of Harris A. Lewin are available from Mitchel Benson, University Communications, (530) 752-9844, mdbenson@ucdavis.edu.

Harris A. Lewin, a respected interdisciplinary researcher and academic leader, is coming home to UC Davis after being appointed the new vice chancellor for research.

Lewin, a native New Yorker, earned his doctorate in immunology at UC Davis in 1984. He has spent the past 26 years at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he holds the Gutgsell Endowed Chair in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

UC President Mark G. Yudof and UC Regent Bruce Varner, chair of the UC Board of Regents Committee on Compensation, approved Lewin’s UC Davis appointment on Oct. 14. The appointment will be reported to the full Board of Regents at its November meeting. Lewin is expected to take up his new post on March 30.

Chancellor Linda Katehi, who recommended Lewin to the regents following a national recruitment, said: “One of my top goals is to transform our research enterprise here at UC Davis and increase total research awards to $1 billion annually, and I am convinced that Harris Lewin is the person best-suited to take us to the next level.”

The Office of Research is the chief administrative unit and the catalyst for advancing research at UC Davis, and for translating those innovative discoveries into ways of improving the quality of life for people and animals everywhere.

The office oversees 28 research units and more than 130 active researchers, serving as principal investigators on grants and contracts on the Davis and Sacramento campuses, who engage in the sort of interdisciplinary and collaborative research that is the hallmark of UC Davis. (The total number of participating researchers is much larger; postdoctoral scientists and graduate students typically do not serve as principal investigators.) The 28 units include the Air Quality Research Center, Bodega Marine Laboratory, California National Primate Research Center, Cancer Center, Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, Institute of Transportation Studies and John Muir Institute of the Environment.

In addition, the Office of Research is responsible for promoting and organizing research, intellectual property and technology transfer on the two campuses. UC Davis recently announced that it had received almost $680 million in research funds in the 2009-10 fiscal year that ended June 30, representing about 20 percent of the university’s $3 billion in total annual revenue.

The nearly $680 million is a record for the university and double the research revenue of a decade ago. Since 2005, UC Davis InnovationAccess has produced 584 agreements with companies related to licensing of UC Davis intellectual property and received a little more than $59.3 million in total licensing income. The office has also helped 28 startups since 2005.

Lewin will be returning to his alma mater, and taking the helm of the Office of Research, at a time of tremendous ambition and transformation. Katehi has made expansion of UC Davis' research enterprise a key goal in her vision for the campus. Three recent reports have underscored that goal and recommended next steps: faculty blue-ribbon committee reports on research and technology transfer; and a report from the Washington Advisory Group, led by Eric Bloch, former director of the National Science Foundation. All three reports recommended steps UC Davis can take to build on existing strengths, expand basic research and forge collaborations with industry to help move UC Davis research findings from the laboratory to the marketplace for the betterment of humankind.

“There is no greater honor than returning to my alma mater to lead a research enterprise that is recognized throughout the world for its excellence in both fundamental and translational research,” Lewin said. “Together with Chancellor Katehi, the faculty, staff and campus leadership, we will forge a strategy to elevate UC Davis from its current high ranking to be among the nation’s elite research universities.”

At Illinois, Lewin’s appointment in immunogenetics is in the Department of Animal Sciences, and he is also a professor in the Center for Advanced Study. His research program is directed at understanding how mammalian genomes evolve, and the relationship between chromosome evolution and cancer.

Lewin is also director of the Institute for Genomic Biology, a highly interdisciplinary research center of more than 800 faculty, staff and students who work collaboratively on major problems facing society, including renewable biofuels, antibiotic resistance, global climate change, regenerative medicine and cancer.

“He is not only an accomplished researcher but he is also a true entrepreneur,” Katehi said of Lewin. “I’m confident he will foster strong partnerships and collaborations with government, industry and other research enterprises.”

Under Lewin’s leadership at Illinois, annual extramural interdisciplinary research funding at the Institute for Genomic Biology has grown to more than $26 million annually in just its first three years of operation. The institute’s total research funding has grown to more than $180 million, with an additional $92 million pending.

Lewin, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cornell University, visited UC Davis on Sept. 15 for a public forum as part of the recruitment process.

Professor Emeritus Charley Hess has been serving as interim vice chancellor of research at UC Davis.

The Board of Regents approved Hess’s appointment on Sept. 16. He replaced Barry Klein, who stepped down as vice chancellor after nine years in the position.

As vice chancellor for research, Lewin will receive an annual base salary of $370,000. In keeping with UC policy, additional compensation will include a relocation allowance, hiring bonus, temporary living assistance, moving expenses and eligibility for a Mortgage Origination Program loan. Additional details about the total compensation package will be posted at the UC Regents website on salaries and compensation.