Associate Provost for Research

It is my pleasure to formally confirm Rosemarie (Rose) Wesson as The City College of New York’s Associate Provost for Research.  It is a role that Rose had taken on well over a year ago on an interim basis, and she continues to support and expand the research enterprise at the College. She has been a great partner to me in our efforts to raise the recognition of the research and creative work done at City College and a strong advocate for the needs of all of you doing that work. In her role as Associate Provost for Research, Rose has launched the Research and Innovation at City College website, known as the RICC, spotlighting cutting-edge work at the College, and continues to foster collaboration and creativity across disciplines.

Rose joined CCNY in 2015 as the Associate Dean for Research in the School of Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering.  At the Grove School, Rose catalyzed growth by providing strategic vision, guidance, and coordination.  Due in part to the increased research expenditures of the School of Engineering, the Carnegie Classification of City College increased to R2-High Research activity.  Rose continues to build bridges throughout CUNY and with CCNY Offices and Divisions, including the Division of Science, ASRC, and the Grants and Sponsored Research Office, as well building partnerships with industry and universities externally. 

Upon arriving at CCNY, Rose led an effort to provide institutional resources to support junior faculty in the School of Engineering and across CUNY. She worked with CUNY personnel to initiate the CUNY NSF CAREER Proposal Writing Bootcamp to assist tenure track faculty across CUNY develop competitive proposals.  As a result, over 30% of the eligible engineering junior faculty received federally-funded early career awards, including both the prestigious NSF CAREER and DOE Early Career awards. 

Before coming to CCNY, Rose worked at Dow Chemical, at Louisiana State University, and at the National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering. This varied experience and her track record on our campus make her ideally suited for this position.

I am pleased to formally confirm Rose’s appointment as Associate Provost for Research at the College and look forward to continuing to work with her.