Richard Philip Taylor - Materials Science Institute - University of ...

2. CAREER EXPERIENCE AND ACHIEVEMENTS
2.1 Research Management: Funding, Technology development, Patents
• Institute Directorships: I am currently Director of the Materials Science Institute (MSI) at the University
of Oregon, in charge of 35 academic faculty, 10 administrative staff and 110 graduate students. The
MSI has an annual grant income of $16M. In addition to its research activities, the Institute runs highly
active educational and public outreach programs and an industrial internship program. I was previously
invited by the Board of Trusties to apply for the Directorship of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced
Materials and Nanotechnology in New Zealand (consisting of 41 faculty members from 4 universities)
in 2008. I declined this invitation due to my move back to the USA in 2008.
• I am director of Fractals Research LLC, a research and development company that generates pattern
analysis software and electronic retinal implants. The company also publishes educational books and
technical documents about fractals. Planned future functions include funding PhD fellowships and
educational lecture tours.
• I am head of the Fractals Research Laboratory at UO. Comprised of typically 10 research students from
the physics, computer science, psychology and human physiology departments, my laboratory provides
a unique research resource. I am a member of two major nanoscience research initiatives funded by the
Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies initative (ONAMI): the SNNI (Safer Nano-materials and
Nano-manufacturing Initiative) and the N3 initiative (Nano-metrology, Nano-electronics and
Nanobiotechnology). My research is also part of Oregon SuNRISE, a network of solar energy
researchers, and BEST, the Oregon Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center. In
addition to nano-device physics research, my laboratory has a rapidly growing reputation in biophysics
research of human vision.
• During my 26-year research career, I have repeatedly demonstrated my leadership skills in directing all
stages of research programs. This includes assembling research teams, establishing laboratories, writing
successful grants, attracting world-class collaborators and communicating results in high profile
journals and at international conferences. I have developed and headed successful research projects
based in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the USA. One of my leadership strengths is my
ability to create research networks that pool the resources and expertise of my laboratories with those of
international leaders in their research fields. Adopting this strategy, I have led 20 highly prolific
international collaborations involving researchers from 10 countries.
• My career has been shaped by international invitations to lead high-profile programs, where my
expertise introduced new capabilities to each country’s national research priorities. In 1990, I was hired
by NRC to establish a nano-device program in Canada. I coordinated the activities of 15 researchers at
NRC, defining an international force in nano-device physics (as reflected by prestigious publications
and a series of successful international workshops at NRC). In 1993, I was invited to establish nanodevice
technologies in Australia and, within a year, I performed the first Australian nano-device
experiment. I helped to design the $1.2M clean rooms of the Semiconductor Fabrication Facility (now
the ARC Centre for Quantum Computing) and my devices featured in the 1994 Science, Technology
and Engineering Committee report to the Australian government. Since then I have led the UNSW
Mesoscopic Physics Research Group (1995-2000) and the UO Fractals Research Laboratory (2000-11)
(see above).
• I have a record of successful research funding throughout my career in the disciplines of Physics,
Engineering, Psychology and Art, including financial support from funding agencies in 8 countries.
These include the National Science Foundation (USA), the US Air Force (USA), the Office of Naval
Research (USA), the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (USA), the Murdock Trust
(USA), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (USA), the Addario Foundation (USA), the National Research
Council (Canada), the British Royal Society (UK), the Science and Engineering Research Council
(UK), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK), the Japanese Science and
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