Senior NSF Leader Named Vice Chancellor for Research

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Dec. 1, 2025) – An accomplished leader at the National Science Foundation with a deep background in ocean and environmental science and biology has been tapped to lead the burgeoning research enterprise at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Lisa M. Clough, Ph.D., acting director of NSF’s Ocean Sciences Division, will join North Carolina A&T on Jan. 5 as vice chancellor for the Division of Research, overseeing projects that have attracted more than $350 million in external funding over the past three years.

Clough has been with NSF as a federal employee since 2013 and has served in senior roles in two directorates: Geological and Biological Sciences. She advanced U.S. ocean science nationally and internationally, chairing multiple interagency working groups and serving on several international groups, including the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Treaty on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction.

While NSF is an independent federal agency, Clough has served under five NSF directors and four presidential administrations.

At A&T, which now exceeds the criteria for the Carnegie Classifications’ leading Research 1 designation, Clough will play a critical role in the university’s ongoing evolution as an exponential research institution, said Chancellor James R. Martin II.

“Dr. Clough joins us as we have just completed our second consecutive year of performance at the R1 level,” said Martin. “Getting to this stage represents a major milestone. Dr. Clough will lead important work to ensure we not only sustain those metrics, but relentlessly build upon them. Her background at NSF, as well as her previous work in the University of North Carolina System, made her the ideal candidate for this mission-critical role.”

At NSF, Clough has served in the Senior Executive Service, the executive corps of the U.S. federal civil service, for the past decade. She has impacted all areas of NSF’s mission, including securing the national defense through work in classified areas and as exemplified by her receipt of several medals, including Arctic and Antarctic Service Medals and the Public Service Medal from the Coast Guard.

Prior to her work at NSF headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, Clough served in an interim role for two years as associate vice chancellor for Research at East Carolina University. She also served on the ECU faculty in numerous roles over 20 years, culminating in the rank of full professor of biology.

An accomplished research scientist in her own right, Clough has published more than 30 peer-reviewed studies and technical reports, while also teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Her ecological work included foundational studies of interactions between organisms and their environments, monitoring environments around North Carolina phosphate mines and incorporating indigenous knowledge into her study of ecosystems in Alaska.

A&T is home to 20 centers and institutes – among them, seven centers of excellence – eight project centers funded by sponsoring state and federal agencies and six collaborative centers. A&T’s growing external awards have been accompanied by significant growth in research expenditures. Graduation of doctoral students – the lifeblood of university research programs – has tripled over the past 15 years.

“The data illustrate our exciting growth as a research university, but they tell only part of the story,” said Martin. “Our success and ambition as a hub of science and innovation reflect the outstanding faculty researchers and students who make up our university. I look forward to what they will achieve under the knowledgeable, seasoned leadership of Dr. Clough.”