OSU’s Singh named director of EPSCoR research program
Monday, October 25, 2021
Media Contact: Harrison Hill | Research Communications Specialist | 405-744-5827 | harrison.c.hill@okstate.edu
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education have named Dr. Raman P. Singh as director of the Oklahoma Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (OK EPSCoR).
“I hope to support growth in all areas of research relevant to the state of Oklahoma,” said Singh, an associate dean and Helmerich Family Endowed Chair of Engineering at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa. “Concurrently, I hope to support diversity and inclusion for traditionally underrepresented groups. My overarching goal is to help foster an innovative economy by leveraging science and technology for the benefit of all residents of our state.”
Singh, who is also the director of the Helmerich Research Center, said OSU has a vast amount of research in energy, health care, aerospace, manufacturing, clean water, and agriculture.
“We are lucky to have recruited such an accomplished scholar who also has the extraordinary people skills needed for this role,” said Dr. Kenneth Sewell, OSU vice president for research and member of the Oklahoma EPSCoR Advisory Committee. “Dr. Singh seems ideally suited.”
In the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, Singh holds joint appointments as a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering and the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Singh also serves as the vice president of the Society of Experimental Mechanics and in 2020, Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed him to the Governor’s Science and Innovation Council.
Singh holds master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics from the University of Rhode Island, as well as a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India.
Prior to joining OSU in 2006, he was a faculty member at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and before that a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology.
OK EPSCoR was initiated by support from the National Science Foundation in 1985 to strengthen Oklahoma’s exploration and growth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Since then, OK EPSCoR has expanded to include similar programs supported by NASA, National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and Department of Defense.
“The EPSCoR program works with the state’s universities and colleges to build a high-quality research backbone for Oklahoma. It enables the brightest minds in the state to work together and build a brighter future,” Singh said.
Oklahoma EPSCoR’s central goal is to increase the state’s research competitiveness through strategic support of research expertise, instruments and facilities, collaborations, and integrated education and research programs.
“I have long been a teacher and researcher before taking on any other role in my career,” Singh said. “I believe that both education and innovation should serve to help others. Science by its very nature is expansive and not restrictive. I hope to bring this perspective to the position.
“I believe in the future of Oklahoma and am honored to serve.”