Contributing Partners
The Strengthen and Modernize initiative seeks insight and intelligence from across the partnership community. To support this effort, several lead organizations, each representing a critical sector, have stepped forward as strategic allies and contributing partners.
Advisory Board
To support the goals of the initiative, UIDP has created an Advisory Board of thought leaders from diverse sectors to help shape and drive the program. Advisory Board members play a key role in providing strategic guidance and expertise to the effort.
Craig Arnold
Vice Dean of Innovation and Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Princeton University
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Craig B. Arnold serves as vice dean for innovation at Princeton University, leading the Office of Innovation, strengthening partnerships with entrepreneurs, alumni, industry, and investors. He collaborates across campus and with key offices, including technology licensing, corporate engagement, and the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council.
Arnold is the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and was the director of the Princeton Materials Institute from 2015 through 2022. His research spans advanced manufacturing, energy storage, and optics, resulting in 17 patents and over 225 publications. He co-founded three companies, including TAG Optics, which developed the award-winning TAG lens now widely used in industrial and research applications.
Arnold has received numerous honors, including the Edison Patent Award, the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) Prism Award, and the R&D 100 Award. He is a fellow of SPIE and the Optical Society of America. A dedicated educator, Arnold has earned multiple teaching awards and mentored numerous students. He earned his doctorate in experimental condensed matter physics from Harvard University and joined Princeton’s faculty in 2003 after postdoctoral research at the Naval Research Laboratory.
Christopher J. Cramer
Interim President and Chief Research Officer
UL Research Institutes
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Christopher J. Cramer is interim president and chief research officer (CRO) of UL Research Institutes, a nonprofit advancing public safety through scientific research with a $115+ million annual budget. He oversees strategy, budget, and operations for 200+ employees and collaborates with the governing Board of Trustees. As CRO, Cramer drives research initiatives, educational efforts, and safety-science solutions for emerging technologies, fostering collaborations and influencing standards and public policy.
Previously, Cramer was vice president for research at the University of Minnesota, managing $1+ billion in annual research expenditures across five campuses. He led efforts to enhance productivity, represented the university to key stakeholders, and oversaw 750 staff and a $150 million budget. A U.S. Army veteran, he served four years, including combat roles during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Cramer serves on the boards of BioMADE, part of the Manufacturing USA network, and the International Electrotechnical Commission Market Strategy Board, addressing future technological challenges. He is also an advisory board member for the NSF Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), shaping transformative engineering research directions.
Lee Ellen Dreschler
Senior Vice President, Corporate R&D
Procter & Gamble
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Lee Ellen Drechsler’s career at Procter & Gamble (P&G) has included technical leadership roles across Beauty Care, Baby Care, and Corporate R&D, with responsibilities from upstream Disruptive Innovation to downstream Product Supply. Drechsler leads Corporate Transformative Platform Technology (TPT), Glad JV, Connect + Develop, and Sustainability Innovation organizations with a mission to continue building P&G’s long-held reputation as a world leader of growth driven by innovation. She is accelerating the way P&G delivers game-changing and sustainable products, packages, and services, leveraging early in-market learning as well as collaborations with strong academic and business partners.
Kelvin K. Droegemeier
Professor and Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Science and Policy
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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Kelvin K. Droegemeier is a professor of climate, meteorology, and atmospheric sciences and special advisor to the chancellor for science and policy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He previously spent 38 years at the University of Oklahoma, serving nearly a decade as vice president for research. He co-founded and directed an NSF Science and Technology Center and an NSF Engineering Research Center.
Droegemeier has held significant leadership roles, including Oklahoma cabinet secretary for science and technology, two terms on the National Science Board (four years as vice-chairman), director of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and acting NSF director.
His research focuses on thunderstorm dynamics, data assimilation, mesoscale dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, and aviation weather. A fellow of the American Meteorological Society and AAAS, he has chaired numerous boards and committees, including UCAR and the APLU Council on Research. Currently, he serves on the National Academies’ BRDI and COSEMPUP and advises MD Anderson Cancer Center.
In his 40-year career, Droegemeier has secured over $40 million in research funding and authored more than 80 journal articles. His 2023 book, Demystifying the Academic Research Enterprise (MIT Press), offers insights into the research ecosystem.
Ann Gabriel
Senior Vice President Global Strategic Networks
Elsevier
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Kimberly Brennan brings more than 12 years of event planning experience to UIDP. She served as a training specialist and planner for the U.S. Space Shuttle Program at Kennedy Space Center and has been an event coordinator for a large health care nonprofit organization. She holds an associate degree in business operations from Columbia College. She enjoys sports and outdoor activities with her family and is an active volunteer in local efforts and in the experimental aviation community to foster STEM education for the next generation.
Lou Gritzo
Chief Science Officer and Staff Senior Vice President
FM Global
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Louis Gritzo is chief science officer and staff senior vice president at FM, a leader in property loss prevention and business continuity. He oversees FM’s strategic advancement of science and research, including identifying emerging industrial risks and developing solutions to prevent property loss and business interruption.
Previously, Gritzo managed FM’s US $250 million research campus in Rhode Island, the world’s largest property loss prevention research facility, and scientific labs in Massachusetts. He now leads initiatives such as an FM European research center focused on automation and cybersecurity and centers of excellence in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, studying climate risk and resilience, advancing sustainability for FM and its clients.
Before joining FM in 2006, Gritzo was manager of fire science and technology at Sandia National Laboratories and a member of its Advanced Concepts Group. He has chaired the ASME Heat Transfer Division Executive Committee, led the Industrial Research Institute board, served on the Global Earthquake Model governing board, and contributed to the National Fire Protection Association and various universities.
Gritzo earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Texas Tech University, has authored articles for Forbes, and participated in the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Management in Japan.
Sally Morton
Executive Vice President & Professor, ASU Knowledge Enterprise
Arizona State University
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Sally C. Morton is the executive vice president of Knowledge Enterprise at Arizona State University (ASU), overseeing research, economic development, and corporate engagement. She manages ASU’s $904 million in FY23 research expenditures, leading 2,700 employees, and driving priorities such as entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology transfer. Under her leadership, ASU secured major federal projects, including a Department of Commerce semiconductor packaging initiative, Department of Defense Microelectronics Commons Hub, and Department of Energy Carbon and Clean Energy Manufacturing Hubs. She also played a key role in bringing the CHIPS for America Advanced Packaging Piloting Facility to ASU.
Morton is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has led organizations in academe and industry, serving as dean of Virginia Tech’s College of Science, chair of Biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh, and vice president at RTI International. She is internationally recognized for advancing health care decisions through statistics and data science. A professor at ASU’s School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences and the College of Health Solutions, Morton earned her Ph.D. in statistics from Stanford University.
Anne Szeto
Head of Academic Research Initiatives
Amazon
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Anne Szeto leads Academic Research Initiatives (ARI) at Amazon. ARI is a global university partnerships function that accelerates long-term foundational technology research and development. She previously spent 10 years leading a 125-person Strategic Talent team at Amazon, focused on building and cultivating scientific communities. She joined Amazon in 2008 as the company’s first executive recruiter and has recruited and coached senior leaders globally. Szeto previously worked at an organizational design and executive search consultancy in New York.
Grace J. Wang
President
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
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Grace J. Wang is the 17th president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at WPI. Known as a collaborative leader in higher education, government, and industry, Wang has excelled at building collective vision, delivering impacts, and fostering partnerships to advance education, research, and innovation.
In 2022, Wang was appointed by the White House to serve on the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee. She is a council member of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She is also a member of the Board of Governors for the New York Academy of Sciences and holds seven US patents.
Wang earned her doctorate in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University and has worked at IBM, NSF, SUNY and most recently The Ohio State University as executive vice president for research, innovation, and knowledge.
Please share your ideas for strengthening and modernizing U-I partnerships. We seek case studies and information about existing programs to share as we build a body of knowledge that can help strengthen and modernize U-I partnerships and ultimately improve the state of science and engineering.