Biography
Jennifer Lyon Gardner, Ph.D., is Deputy Vice President for Research at The University of Texas at Austin, where she has led research capacity-building efforts since 2008. Her work focuses on designing and implementing programs that promote collaborative, high-impact research across the university. She has played a central role in initiatives such as UT’s campus-wide research grand challenge program Bridging Barriers and Associate Professor Experimental (APX), a networking and proposal-development retreat for newly tenured faculty.
Dr. Gardner also leads UT Austin’s Research Development group, which provides competitive intelligence and strategic proposal development support to research teams pursuing major external funding opportunities.
She holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry, with a minor in English, from Penn State University, and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to returning to UT Austin, she served as a research-track faculty member at the UT Health Science Center in Houston.
Before joining the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors, Dr. Gardner founded and directed the College of Natural Sciences’ Strategic Research Initiatives team. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) and was an inaugural recipient of the organization’s Rising Star Award.
