Campus Research Officers

Meet the dedicated officers for each CSU campus.

CSU Bakersfield
Isabel C. Sumaya, Ph.D.
Interim Associate Vice President, Grants, Research and Sponsored Programs
Dr. Sumaya is alumnus of CSUB earning her BA and MA in Psychology, her Ph.D. from The University of Texas at El Paso where she was trained as a behavioral neuroscientist completing postdoctoral work at Northwestern University Medical School. As faculty, she has secured 6.8 million from various NIH and DoE grants and is currently the Director and PI of CSUB’s NIH Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE), Research Ethics Review Coordinator for both the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board, and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, and Director of the CSUB Rodent Animal Facility. She has provided hundreds of students enriching research experiences in her Behavioral Neuroscience Lab using rodent models.

CSU Channel Islands
Scott Perez
Director, Research and Sponsored Programs
Perez joined CSU Channel Islands in 2017, bringing with him more than 25 years of experience in research administration. In his role as director, Perez oversees all university-sponsored research projects, including both pre- and post-award support to campus researchers. Prior to CSUCI, he worked in the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects at CSU Northridge from 1992 to 2017, starting as director in 2002. During his tenure, award volume increased from $8 million to over $30 million annually.

Chico State
Mary Sidney
Chief Executive Officer, Chico State Enterprises
Following a national search, Mary Sidney was selected to serve as CEO of the Chico State Enterprises (CSE) effective October 1, 2019. Sidney joined CSE from the University of California Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory where she served as deputy for operations for the Energy Technologies Area (ETA), and more recently as senior advisor to the ETA associate laboratory director in the areas of business, finance, human resources and safety operations. 

Sidney holds a Bachelor of Science degree in applied economics from the University of San Francisco, with graduate studies in leadership and communications at the University of California, Berkeley.

CSU Dominguez Hills
Sheree​ M. Schrager, Ph.D.
Dean, Graduate Studies and Research
Dr. Schrager joined the CSU in 2017 after nine years conducting research at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California. She has been a PI or Co-Investigator on nine major federal grants with cumulative funding exceeding $20M and has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed publications, with an emphasis on the behavioral health and risk outcomes of sexual and gender minority youth. An expert in human subjects research methods and statistical modeling, Dr. Schrager holds Master’s degrees in statistics and psychology and a PhD in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.​​

CSU East Bay
Chandra (Khan) Srinivasan, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
Khan received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Loyola University Chicago. Following two postdoctoral fellowships, she started at California State University, Fullerton as an Assistant Professor and was promoted early to the rank of Associate Professor and then to full Professor. She then served at California State University, Dominguez Hills as the inaugural Faculty Director for Research Development. She has mentored numerous scholars and has contributed to research capacity building and broadening participation at multiple California State University campuses.

Fresno State
Joy J. Goto, Ph.D.
Interim Dean, Research and Graduate Studies

CSU Fullerton
Binod Tiwari, Ph.D., P.E.
Associate Vice President, Research & Sponsored Programs
Dr. Tiwari has served CSU, Fullerton for 13 years as an assistant professor through professor of civil & environmental engineering. He is a renowned scholar in geotechnical/earthquake engineering and natural disaster mitigation, and has been awarded more than $1.6 million in research grants in support of his endeavors. He is current chair of the Council for Undergraduate Research’s Engineering Division. He received over two dozen awards for his teaching, scholarship and service to university and community including the CSUF Outstanding Professor Award in 2017. Dr. Tiwari completed his BS in civil engineering from Tribhuvan University, Nepal; MS and PhD from Niigata University, Japan and post-doctoral studies at Virginia Tech.

Cal Poly Humboldt
Kacie Flynn
​Executive Director, Sponsored Programs Foundation
Flynn joined Humboldt's Sponsored Programs Foundation in 2010, serving a number of roles, most recently as manager before she began as interim director in July 2018. She now oversees the auxiliary operations and staff, and serves as Humboldt's representative with the Chief Campus Research Officers (CCRO), the Agriculture Research Institute (ARI), along with chairing the Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) annual competition. Flynn earned the designation of Certified Research Administrator (CRA) from the Research Administrators Certification Council, and is currently pursuing her Master's in research administration from Johns Hopkins University.

CSU Long Beach
Simon Kim, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President, Research & Sponsored Programs
Dr. Kim is a professor of educational psychology and associate vice president for Research and Sponsored Programs at CSU Long Beach. He has a broad understanding of contemporary issues affecting public higher education and extensive experience in academic strategic planning and assessment. He has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters and participated in internal and external grant activities on educational partnerships and accountability, culturally diverse students, and conceptualization and evaluation of educational programs. Simon received his bachelor’s in mathematics from Westminster College, a master's in operations research from the University of Kentucky, and his Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Southern California.

Cal State LA
Jeffrey Underwood, Ph.D. 
Associate Vice President, Research
Dr. Underwood joined Cal State LA as AVP of Research in 2017 after six years as a professor and chair at Georgia Southern University’s Department of Geology & Geography. An active researcher, he collaborates with the Pacific Coastal Fog Project and a research consortium of the Universities of Bologna and Padua, Italy. Dr. Underwood became a Certified Research Administrator (CRA) in 2013 and is active with the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP), National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) and the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia and served as the Nevada state climatologist at the University of Nevada.

Maritime Acad​emy
Christopher Brown
Associate Vice President, Research and Innovation
Brown is the new AVP for Research and Innovation at Cal Maritime. This role unites his twin passions of science and creative academic entrepreneurialism to address challenges facing society, industry, and the academy. As CSUM’s recent Golden Bear Research Center Director, he investigated harmful invasive marine species. Previously, he held scientific research roles at the Smithsonian’s Marine Invasive Species Lab and California State Lands Commission. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science, and Technology (IMarEST). Brown received his BS in Biology from Sonoma State and his MSc in Ecology and Systematics from San Francisco State University.

CSU Monterey Bay
Cindy Lopez
Director, Sponsored Programs
Lopez has been involved in sponsored programs for over 25 years — 20 of those at CSU Monterey Bay. Lopez has had the opportunity to create much of the framework and institutional processes for CSUMB research and auxiliary management of external funding related to both pre- and post-award activities. She was the recipient of the CSUMB President’s Medal in 2007 after being nominated by faculty and staff colleagues.​

​CSU Northridge
Christopher Sanford, Ph.D.
Associate Vice​ President Research and Sponsored Programs
​Sanford has a BS and PhD in Biology from the University of London. He has spent several years leading interdisciplinary research teams supported by both the NSF and the private sector. In recent years he has led the renovation of buildings and was a Department Chair. He recently left the National Science Foundation where he has served as Program Director in two different Directorates; the Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Office of Integrative Activities (Convergence Accelerator) where he was responsible for both small and large-scale projects.

Cal Poly Pomona 
Craig LaMunyon, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation & Economic Development
With a bachelor’s from CSUF and a PhD in genetics from Cornell, Craig LaMunyon was a researcher at University of Arizona and a professor at Florida Atlantic University before relocating to Cal Poly Pomona in 2003 as an Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences.  Dr. LaMunyon has received $3.3M in research grants, published widely, and trained dozens of student researchers.  He served as chair of Biology from 2015 to 2018 and then as Associate Dean for Research and Academics in the College of Science through 2021.  He now serves as the Interim Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development.​

Sacramento State 
Yvonne Harris, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President, Research, Innovation and Economic Development
Dr. Harris joined CSU Sacramento in 2018 after serving as vice provost of Research and Scholarship at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia; associate vice president fo​r the Office of Grants and Research Administration at Chicago State University in Chicago; dean of the Mathematics and Science Division at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois; and chair of the Department of Biology and Biotechnology at Truman College in Chicago. Her academic and administrative experiences have been quite extensive, including activities related to technology transfer, entrepreneurship, economic and workforce development.  She received her Ph.D. in biology from Northern Illinois University. 

CSU San Bernardino 
Dorota Huizinga, Ph.D.
Associate Provost, Research and Dean of Graduate Studies
Dr. Huizinga joined CSU San Bernardino by way of Cal State Dominguez Hills, where she served as dean of Graduate Studies and Academic Research. Prior to that, she served in various leadership roles at CSU Fullerton, where she successfully secured over $3.7 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. She holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Wayne State University, a master's in computer science from Western Michigan University, and a master's in applied mathematics from Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland.

San Diego State 
Hala Madanat, Ph.D.
Interim Vice President of Research and Innovation

Dr. Hala Madanat is the Interim Vice President of Research and Innovation at San Diego State University. Previously, she served as the Director of SDSU’s School of Public Health. Dr. Madanat is leading a $3 million contact tracing program aimed to support underserved communities funded by the County of San Diego. She serves as the lead investigator on the $12 million SDSU/UCSD Cancer Center Partnership funded by NCI. Dr. Madanat has a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Jordan, a M.S. in Community Health Sciences, and a Ph.D. in Sociology with a minor in Public Health, both from Brigham Young University.

San Francisco State 
Michael Scott, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President, Research and Sponsored Programs
Dr. Scott joined San Francisco State in 2016 after spending six years as a program officer in the Divisions of Materials Research and Chemistry at the National Science Foundation. Prior to the NSF, Dr. Scott was on the chemistry faculty at the University of Florida where he served as the division head for Inorganic Chemistry and as the director for the Center for Catalysis. While at Florida, he received an NSF CAREER award and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. Dr. Scott earned his bachelor's from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University. He also completed a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship at MIT.

San José State 
Mohamed Abousalem, Ph.D., MBA, PEng
Vice President, Research & Innovation
Mohamed Abousalem was appointed in June 2019 as SJSU’s inaugural Vice President for Research and Innovation (VPRI). Mohamed has served in a variety of teaching, research and business leadership positions for three decades, most recently as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California Santa Cruz. The VPRI leads the administration of university research and innovation programs and activities and the development of extramural funding from government, private foundations, and industry. He also leads the development of public-private partnerships that foster innovation and collaboration. Mohamed holds a bachelor’s degree from Alexandria University (Egypt), master’s and doctoral degrees from University of Calgary (Canada), and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo​
Dawn Neill, Ph.D.
​ AIC, Research, Economic Development & Graduate Education
Neill received a B.A. and an M.A. in anthropology from Louisiana State University, and an M.S. in nutritional sciences and a Ph.D. in biocultural anthropology from the University of Washington. Neill was recently the director of research engagement and internationalization in the College of Liberal Arts and a professor of anthropology in the Interdisciplinary Studies in Liberal Arts Department. Her research specializations include medical and nutritional anthropology, food systems studies, evolutionary demography, and parental investment. Neill’s current international research examines urbanization and changing family dynamics. In the US, her research focuses on food insecurity and food knowledge production.

CSU San Marcos
Charles De Leone, Ph.D.
Interim Dean, Graduate Studies and Research
Dr. De Leone has been a Professor of Physics at CSUSM for 19 years. He has been the PI and co-PI on multiple private and federal grants aimed at developing, adapting, and implementing best practices science curriculum and in supporting institutional change in STEM, including a joint CSUSM/Palomar College NSF STEP award. These efforts also include founding of the CSUSM STEM Tutoring Center and founding and serving as one of the directors of the CSUSM Center for Research and Engagement in STEM Education. He was a co-author on the “Barriers and Opportunities for 2-year and 4-year STEM Degrees” report by the National Academies and publishes in the area of physics education including on the topics of multiple representations, student use of technology, and the efficacy of active-learning based pedagogy.

Sonoma State
Steve Karp
Associate Vice President, Research and Sponsored Programs
Karp will be joining Sonoma State in July 2018 after leading Humboldt State's Sponsored Programs Foundation, serving pre- and post-award needs, since 2011. Karp was also Humboldt's Interim Dean for Research at the university's Office of Research, Economic & Community Development (ORECD). Prior to research administration, he served as associate director of Humboldt State's Northern California Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Karp also has a rich background in the technology industry, where he worked in finance for several high-tech firms, including Apple and Viacom. Steve received his bachelor's in economics from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and his master's in systems management from the University of Southern California.

Stanislaus State 
Hengchu (Haley) Ye, Ph.D.
Dean, Graduate Studies and Research
Dr. Ye has a PhD in Climatology from the University of Delaware. Her academic career included tenure track positions at Emporia State University, University of Idaho, and Cal State LA. During her 20 years at Cal State LA, she served as the department chair in Geosciences and Environment, associate dean for the College of Natural and Social Sciences, and the founding director for NASA funded interdisciplinary Data Intensive Research and Education Center for STEM (DIRECT-STEM), a multi-institutional collaborative project. Ye is the PI/co-PI for many research and educational projects including large interdisciplinary grants from NASA MIRO, NSF Big Data Spoke, NOAA Global Change.