Boise State University has selected Dr. Nancy Glenn to be the next Vice President for Research and Economic Development.
“We had a very impressive slate of candidates — people with exceptional experience and talent in the multiple aspects of this role. The excitement around Dr. Glenn’s leadership against the backdrop of that field of candidates signals our colleagues’ strong positive assessment of her ability to lead forward. Dr. Glenn understands the needs of our faculty and students, the needs of the state, and the opportunities before us for the future. She will help us to create the next iteration of the university’s research enterprise, advancing the work of both our internal constituents and engaging with and supporting our external partners,” said Dr. Marlene Tromp, Boise State president.
Glenn has been serving as interim Vice President for Research and Economic Development and is a professor in the Department of Geosciences within the College of Arts and Sciences.
“I am honored to lead Boise State University’s research and creative activity enterprise, and thrilled to work with our talented community,” said Glenn. “I look forward to supporting and empowering our researchers across campus, collaborating with university leadership, and helping fulfill the university’s vision to be a premier student-success driven research university.”
Glenn is passionate about providing opportunities for Boise State’s community and partners to engage in the excitement of knowledge discovery and the research process. She is eager to grow research opportunities for students, faculty and staff by collaborating with partners across divisions at Boise State and beyond campus. She brings a deep commitment to developing positive relationships, and an entrepreneurial approach to building research, and combining these to help others succeed.
Her various leadership roles, including director, department chair, Federal Relations Liaison, and a joint appointment with the Department of Energy, have provided Dr. Glenn with a strong understanding of how universities and agencies operate across multiple divisions. As the science lead of a statewide project, Dr. Glenn created a faculty mentoring program, boosting academic achievement and retention. She co-developed the interdisciplinary Human-Environment Systems (HES) initiative at Boise State, which includes innovative structures and policies to incentivize and reward faculty to deliver, in partnership, substantive positive impact to the communities in which they work.
Glenn’s research focuses on imaging spectroscopy and lidar remote sensing of the environment. As a researcher with over 90 peer reviewed publications, Dr. Glenn and her students, along with her colleagues, have developed remote sensing science tools to monitor and improve dryland ecosystems. She has garnered over $30 million in external funding for her lab to advance students’ knowledge in remote sensing, data science and engineering, research processes, and communication. Her research has been funded through grants from NASA, National Science Foundation, NOAA, US Department of Defense, US Department of Energy, US Department of Agriculture, and US Department of Interior.
Her national and international engagement includes serving on the editorial board and guest editor of several journals, serving on National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study reviews, and serving on several steering committees for NASA and the National Science Foundation.
Glenn earned her bachelor’s degree in geological engineering from University of Nevada Reno, her master’s degree in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley, and her PhD in Geo-Engineering from University of Nevada, Reno.