Longtime UCSC professor Eric Palkovacs was recently appointed Associate Vice Chancellor (AVC) for Strategic Initiatives for the Office of Research (OR). In this role, Eric will advise campus leadership on developing and implementing several key initiatives, including state and systemwide climate change programs and seed funding.
Eric will also serve on OR’s senior leadership team, contributing to research-related policy decisions, and report to the Vice Chancellor of Research.
Eric is currently an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor, associate director of the Institute of Marine Sciences, and director of the Fisheries Collaborative Program. He is also the UCSC Lead Principal Investigator for the Cooperative Institute for Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Systems (CIMEAS), a consortium of nine California institutions working in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Eric’s research focuses on the ecology of coastal freshwater and marine ecosystems and the effects of climate change on fisheries management and conservation.
“Eric brings a depth of knowledge around environmental and climate science that will be crucial in the coming years as UCSC and the Office of Research focuses our efforts on this important topic,” said John MacMillan, interim Vice Chancellor for Research. “His connection to the faculty will be a welcome bridge in our unit, and we look forward to the partnership.”
Eric started his new position on July 1, 2022.
