Dr. Mark McLellan has served as Vice President for Research and Innovation since September 2019. A 30-year veteran of university research leadership, Dr. McLellan came to UNT from Portland State University where he served as vice president of research and graduate studies since August 2018. Previously, Dr. McLellan served seven years as vice president for research and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Utah State University where he helped build a major research expansion and a record level of research funding, including a new infusion of state funding for support of graduate students and graduate education. Prior to his service at USU, he was a tenured professor and department chair at Cornell University; director of a multi-college research center at Texas A&M University; and dean for research at the University of Florida, where he helped to more than double research funding.

Dr. McLellan chairs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Science Advisory Board, which deals with complex issues such as the nation’s opioid epidemic. He also was selected in 2016 as the inaugural chair of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Science Advisory Council. In addition, McLellan is a distinguished and accomplished scientist with 46 peer journal publications and 10 book chapters as well as seven major technical reports for the federal government and five published software programs.

• Ph.D. in food science, Michigan State University
• M.S. in food science Michigan State University
• B.S. in food science, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Pamela Padilla, professor of biological sciences, was named Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation at UNT in October 2019. 

Prior to serving as interim associate vice president of research and innovation, Padilla worked as associate dean of research and graduate studies in the College of Science. Padilla joined UNT in 2002, and in 2010, she earned the UNT Early Career Award for Research and Creativity. She was a Faculty Leadership Fellow from 2015 to 2016. Her research, which has been continually supported by either the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation, focuses on how environmental and dietary stress affects living organisms at the cellular, genetic and molecular levels as a means to model human health issues including ischemia and diabetes. She has received numerous fellowships and grants including a NSF CAREER award. Padilla will continue her research appointment with the College of Science, where she also leads the College of Science Women mentoring group initiative. 

Padilla is the President of SACNAS, the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, the largest STEM diversity organization in the country. She also was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute and SACNAS Advanced Leadership Institute Fellow in 2017, received a Science magazine Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction in 2012 and was a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow in 2008. Padilla earned her Ph.D. in biology from the University of New Mexico, conducted her post-doctoral research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington and was a visiting scholar at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. 

Michael Rondelli joined the University of North Texas in December 2015 as the Associate Vice President of Innovation and Commercialization and has grown his role into the Associate Vice President of Research Commercial Agreements. In this role, he is responsible for managing the technology transfer function within UNT as well as other projects related to intellectual property negotiations, development of new research clusters, and developing entrepreneurial activities on campus.  Additionally, all research contracts are developed, negotiated and executed by his office. Prior to UNT, Michael was the Director of Licensing for the University of Southern California’s Stevens Center for Innovation where he was able to turn around the licensing function that was under-performing license goals for many years prior to his term. Prior to that, Michael built San Diego State University’s Technology Transfer Office into one of the most efficient university licensing operations. Prior to technology transfer, Michael worked in corporate finance and venture capital in New York City. He earned his BSBA with honors in Business from Washington University in St. Louis, his MBA in Finance from Texas Christian University and his JD from the University of San Diego School of Law.

Chuck Tarantino joined the University of North Texas in July 2018 as the Assistant Vice President of Grants and Contracts Administration. He is responsible for sponsored project administration at the university.  He provides leadership for the Pre Award, Post Award and The Research IT functions.  Prior to UNT, Chuck Tarantino was the Assistant Controller at Rice University where he was responsible for the Post Award function of the University.  He provided leadership and direction during a period of tremendous growth in research at that institution.  He has also held leadership roles at the University of Houston at Clear Lake and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.   He is a Certified Public Accountant who earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Pamela Padilla, professor of biological sciences, was named Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation at UNT in October 2019. 

Prior to serving as interim associate vice president of research and innovation, Padilla worked as associate dean of research and graduate studies in the College of Science. Padilla joined UNT in 2002, and in 2010, she earned the UNT Early Career Award for Research and Creativity. She was a Faculty Leadership Fellow from 2015 to 2016. Her research, which has been continually supported by either the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation, focuses on how environmental and dietary stress affects living organisms at the cellular, genetic and molecular levels as a means to model human health issues including ischemia and diabetes. She has received numerous fellowships and grants including a NSF CAREER award. Padilla will continue her research appointment with the College of Science, where she also leads the College of Science Women mentoring group initiative. 

Padilla is the President of SACNAS, the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, the largest STEM diversity organization in the country. She also was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute and SACNAS Advanced Leadership Institute Fellow in 2017, received a Science magazine Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction in 2012 and was a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow in 2008. Padilla earned her Ph.D. in biology from the University of New Mexico, conducted her post-doctoral research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington and was a visiting scholar at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. 

Naomi Wood is the Assistant Director of Research Development. She has been at the University of North Texas since 2008 where she received her BA in Psychology, and MA in International Diplomacy. She currently directs and supports all relevant research development and proposal activities that encourage increased external funding on sponsored research projects. She is a connector in bringing researchers together and to funding opportunities that align with their research projects and scope. She assists the Associate VP of Research in the development of new initiatives, programs, and trainings to support faculty. She is the limited submissions administrator and manager, and editor on institutional grant proposals.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomi-wood/

Michael Rondelli joined the University of North Texas in December 2015 as the Associate Vice President of Innovation and Commercialization and has grown his role into the Associate Vice President of Research Commercial Agreements. In this role, he is responsible for managing the technology transfer function within UNT as well as other projects related to intellectual property negotiations, development of new research clusters, and developing entrepreneurial activities on campus.  Additionally, all research contracts are developed, negotiated and executed by his office. Prior to UNT, Michael was the Director of Licensing for the University of Southern California’s Stevens Center for Innovation where he was able to turn around the licensing function that was under-performing license goals for many years prior to his term. Prior to that, Michael built San Diego State University’s Technology Transfer Office into one of the most efficient university licensing operations. Prior to technology transfer, Michael worked in corporate finance and venture capital in New York City. He earned his BSBA with honors in Business from Washington University in St. Louis, his MBA in Finance from Texas Christian University and his JD from the University of San Diego School of Law.

Steven Tudor serves as the Director of Licensing in the Research Commercial Agreements (RCA) department at The University of North Texas. In this role, he manages the lifecycle of UNT owned intellectual property. This includes IP disclosures, patent filings, contracts, and licensing. He also helps faculty and students understand the nuances of intellectual property and academic research.

Steven joined RCA in May 2017 after spending three years working in UT Southwestern’s Office of Technology Development. Prior to that Steven spent eight years working at the Noble Research Institute in the genetic transformation lab. Steven holds a B.S. in Biomedical Science from the University of Oklahoma and a J.D. from the Texas A&M University School of Law.

Ali Yunus joined Research Commercial Agreements (RCA) in March 2020 as a Senior Contracts Analyst. In this role, he is responsible for marketing and licensing of UNT owned intellectual property. He is also responsible for drafting and negotiating various IP-related contracts. His expertise lies in the area of advancing life sciences related technologies, and open source software licensing. Prior to joining UNT, he worked at UT Southwestern’s Office for Technology Development where he was responsible for commercialization of early-stage technologies. Before that he was a Research Fellow at Howard Hughes Medical Institute conducting research to elucidate mechanisms of proteins involved in cellular motion. Ali received B.Tech (Hons) in Biotechnology and Biochemical Eng. from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Structural Biology from Cornell University.

Janis has been working at UNT since November 2018, and moved under Research Commercial Agreements when the department was created in November 2019. Janis manages the Research Contracts inbox, triaging everything that comes in to ensure that it gets to the right person in a timely manner. She also drafts and negotiates agreements and manages the internal contract database.

Janis has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Old Dominion University and is a Certified Paralegal. Prior to joining UNT, Janis managed complex litigation cases at several large law firms across the country.

Meagan Sabatino serves as the Research Compliance Manager within the Division of Research and Innovation. Operating under the supervision of Jamie Peno, Director of Research Integrity and Compliance, Ms. Sabatino leads the Institutional Review Board program to facilitate the review of human subjects research protocols. She works closely with campus researchers, including students, staff, and faculty, to ensure human subjects research is conducted both legally and ethically across the university. Ms. Sabatino originally joined UNT in September 2019, after spending 12 years working in clinical research management and compliance in research specialties such as sports medicine, orthopaedics, oncology and emergency medicine. She has presented her work at numerous local and national conferences, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine conference. She has been authored and co-authored on a number of peer-reviewed manuscripts in journals such as the American Journal of Sports Medicine and the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. Ms. Sabatino holds a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from Boston University and is currently studying Health Policy at Wake Forest University.

Chuck Tarantino joined the University of North Texas in July 2018 as the Assistant Vice President of Grants and Contracts Administration. He is responsible for sponsored project administration at the university.  He provides leadership for the Pre Award, Post Award and The Research IT functions.  Prior to UNT, Chuck Tarantino was the Assistant Controller at Rice University where he was responsible for the Post Award function of the University.  He provided leadership and direction during a period of tremendous growth in research at that institution.  He has also held leadership roles at the University of Houston at Clear Lake and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.   He is a Certified Public Accountant who earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Amanda has been working in the Research Administration field at UNT since 2013. She originally started as a department Grant Coordinator and now assists faculty as part of the GCA Pre-Award team. Prior to UNT she was with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, focusing on commercial wildlife permits/licenses.