Dr. Gillian Wilson
Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development
University of California Merced
Dr. Wilson serves as the Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development at UC Merced. As Vice Chancellor she is the primary executive responsible for overseeing the research, innovation and economic development enterprise. Her administrative portfolio includes management of three Organized Research Units (Sierra Nevada Research Institute, Health Sciences Research Institute and UC Merced Community and Labor Center), the UC Merced National Reserve System (Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve, Yosemite Field Station, Sequoia Field Station and SCICON Field Station), the Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) enterprise and the Central California Small Business Development Center (SBDC) network. She also oversees UC Merced’s shared core research facilities and research administration offices (Sponsored Projects Office, Contracts and Grants Administration, Office of Research Compliance and Integrity, Office of Research Development, and Office of Technology, Innovation and Industry Relations).
Dr. Wilson previously served as the Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development and as a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UC Riverside (UCR). During her tenure at UCR, Dr. Wilson’s administrative experience included serving as Interim Deputy Director of the University of California Observatories (UCO), UCR Director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), Interim Divisional Dean for Physical Sciences and Mathematics, and Chair of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences Executive Committee.
Dr. Wilson is a full professor in the UC Merced Department of Physics. Her research expertise is in galaxy evolution, clusters of galaxies, and observational cosmology. Dr. Wilson leads several large international astronomy collaborations, and her work has resulted in ~150 refereed publications and more than $12m in extramural funding and telescope time. She is committed to public outreach and, especially, to attracting groups historically excluded into the STEM fields. Her outreach activities have touched more than 50,000 people.
Dr. Wilson holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Durham University and a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Glasgow. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Physical Society (APS), and the American Astronomical Society (AAS).
