Hanselman appointed to governor’s committee to advance research

Associate Provost and Dean of Research Jennifer Hanselman was recently appointed to Gov. Maura Healey’s new DRIVE Acceleration Team to advance research and discovery in Massachusetts. The team is part of Healey’s Discovery, Research, Innovation for a Vibrant Economy (DRIVE) initiative, which aims to grow Massachusetts’s world-renowned research and innovation economy and create thousands of new jobs. 

The Acceleration Team is charged with exploring new methods and strategies to strengthen Massachusetts’ research and innovation ecosystem, which employs tens of thousands of people in education, health care, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing, while also sustaining jobs in construction, food services, retail, transportation, and more. The group will evaluate opportunities to bolster the sector, including proposing funding structures to finance research projects and developing public-private partnerships across industries to improve its resilience. 

Before becoming Clark’s dean of research in 2024, Hanselman held administrative roles at Fitchburg and Westfield state universities and was a regional manager for the Pioneer Valley STEM Network, one of nine networks designated by the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council, and spent 14 years as a biology faculty member at Westfield State.