Matt Hulver, the University of Oklahoma’s Vice President of Research and Partnerships, has an audacious goal: Improving the lives of all Oklahomans.

To Hulver, universities are “innovation engines,” where research leads to new companies, licensed technology and better health care. Without university research, he notes, we would have missed out on everything from cell phones to insulin—even if few people realize it.

“The hard part isn’t coming up with innovations,” says Hulver. “The hard part is getting them out of the university and into the world where they help people. That’s the gap we’re closing.”

This mission is what brought Hulver from Arizona State University—considered one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most reputable research institutions. He’s here to tell the story of OU innovation through research and to help build collaborations to drive innovation and economic impact for Oklahoma by integrating OU’s research enterprises across its three campuses. In fact, he calls research the “invisible hand behind innovation in this country.”

Underlying everything Hulver talks about is one idea: impact.

“Research is good,” he says. “But research for what purpose?”

For Hulver, purpose means concentrating OU’s efforts in four impact areas where the university is positioned to make a difference: health care, extreme weather, secure and resilient energy systems, and national security and defense.

Those choices are not accidental.

“I don’t think you can point to any other state or university in the country that could tackle these four really important things simultaneously,” he says. “But we can.”

He forecasts that OU research expenditures will increase from roughly $400 million per year to “north of a billion dollars” within seven years. Already, the university is among the top 8% of research universities nationwide in research expenditures, according to a report from the National Science Foundation.

This is not only big for OU, but all of Oklahoma, Hulver says.

“My role is to look at the landscape of where OU has unique capabilities and experience and what makes sense for the state of Oklahoma. It’s not just about driving research; it’s about driving economic impact and economic development.”

Hulver points out opportunities associated with the OU Health Campus in Oklahoma City to address health problems locally and across the country. OU is already recognized as a global weather research leader through its National Weather Center and decades of extreme weather research. 

Energy research has long been a centerpiece at OU and is central to Oklahoma’s economy and expertise; likewise for national defense, especially considering OU’s proximity to Tinker Air Force Base. OU’s Advanced Radar Research Center has developed the world’s most advanced and flexible radar system, which is currently being applied to crucial research both in weather and defense.

Oklahoma is uniquely positioned to be a “test bed” for research projects in many areas where OU can make a big difference, Hulver says, from critical minerals and geothermal technologies to advanced manufacturing, to sustaining military fleets and employing innovations that improve health care access for rural, urban and tribal communities.

Hulver is deliberate about bringing a full range of OU talent to the table.

 “The grandest challenges of our time are human problems, and human problems take every discipline we have,” he says. “For instance, the study of history gives us perspective that informs what comes next. The arts help us understand what people are living through and convey it in ways that reach them.”

Such thinking has already spawned an ambitious OU initiative called Project 200, designed to hire some 200 new faculty directly aligned with OU’s Strategic Plan, Lead On, University: The Next Phase.

“We have to be thoughtful about bringing the best to the fight, across the natural sciences, biomedical and physician-scientists, engineering, the arts and humanities and the social sciences,” Hulver says. “Challenges don’t sort themselves by department, and neither can we.”

Across OU, that work will build upon partnerships with local communities and tribal governments and extend to the nation’s capital. Hulver’s team has established OU’s first-ever regular presence in Washington, D.C., working with federal agencies and decision-makers who guide national research priorities and the resources that support them. 

The goal, Hulver says, is to align OU’s distinctive capabilities with the country’s most pressing needs.

“It’s a path to convincing national partners that we’re uniquely positioned to solve these challenges because nobody else can do it the way OU can,” he says. 

Such work also benefits OU students, Hulver says, “creating opportunities for student engagement, experiential learning, internships and partnering with potential industry partners.”

Little about Hulver’s early years suggested he would one day lead research strategy for a major university.

After growing up in West Virginia, Hulver played rugby and lacrosse for Marietta College in Ohio. Once graduated, he started a personal training business in Baltimore and returned to school to earn a master’s and Ph.D. in metabolism.

Hulver unexpectedly delved into a 20-year research career that led him from Virginia Tech, where he was executive director of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute and assistant dean of health sciences, to Arizona State University, where—as vice president of knowledge enterprise initiatives in Washington, D.C.—he fostered strategic partnerships with federal agencies, policymakers, industry leaders and global research institutions.

Hulver’s background made him the perfect fit for OU. One person who knows this well is Jeff Seymour, president and CEO of the Oklahoma City Innovation District. 

Established in 2019, the district connects research institutions, startups and industry partners in the growing health and bioscience corridor surrounding the OU Health Campus, with the goal of turning research into new technologies, businesses and jobs.

“Matt has worked hard to build meaningful relationships in the community,” Seymour says, adding that Hulver and the district are building a close working relationship to bring new federal resources to Oklahoma, including in areas like weather-resilient infrastructure where OU’s expertise runs deep. Recently, Materials Science and Engineering graduate students in the Gallogly College of Engineering provided design work for an Innovation District project.

“That kind of collaboration is about bringing coalitions together and uniting partners from OU with public organizations, local alliances for economic development, city representatives and private industry around shared goals,” Hulver says.

Looking ahead, Oklahoma is eyeing even more research funding, patents, startup companies and private investment—all spurred by university discoveries that can give big boosts to the state’s economy. 

This is ultimately what drew Hulver to OU. “The mission lines up,” he says. “What OU is built to do and what Oklahoma needs are the same things. That’s rare, and it makes the work worth doing.” 

Robert Reid is a writer and video producer living in Oregon.

Meet Our Cover Models

Energy

One major issue in petroleum and gas drilling happens when a drill bit suddenly stops and spins rapidly. The phenomenon, “stick-slip,” damages equipment, reduces efficiency and increases operational costs. OU petroleum engineering doctoral student Chinedu Ejike is seeking answers to how drilling systems operate deep underground—particularly when they are impacted by vibrations like stick-slip. Ejike recreates real drilling conditions in a controlled environment using a combination of numerical simulations and scaled vibration setup in the Well Integrity Laboratory at OU’s Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering. “It’s like solving a puzzle with real consequences,” he says. “OU has given me access to advanced research tools, mentorship and a supportive community.” Ejike hopes to apply his skills in the energy industry, including emerging areas like geothermal energy. 

National Defense

"OU is really where I figured out what I’m capable of,” says Rosalind Agasti, a doctoral student in electrical engineering and computer science. “It’s where I became confident as a researcher and where my path truly started to take shape.” Now a graduate research assistant at OU’s Advanced Radar Research Center, the future radio frequency designer is exploring ways to build wireless systems that are smaller, lighter and more efficient for use in national security and defense equipment like satellites, radar systems and next-generation communications. “I enjoy the hands-on side of designing something, fabricating it and then testing it in the lab,” she says. “There’s always this moment where something that existed only in equations or simulations becomes a real device."

Weather

Jonah Pehl realized in elementary school that knowledge could conquer fear. “I was fascinated by the TV show ‘Stormchasers’ because they were deliberately pursuing something that I was taught to be scared of,” he says. “They inspired me to understand the atmosphere so it wouldn’t feel mysterious or frightening anymore.” The first-generation OU student is enmeshed in research, pursuing a Ph.D. in meteorology and a master’s in electrical engineering. His work at the Advanced Radar Research Center with one of the world’s most evolved radars—Horus—could lead to more precise and advanced warnings, giving the public extra time to take precautions and saving lives. Horus scans the atmosphere rapidly using phased-array technology. “OU has put me on a professional path where I can honestly say there is nowhere else I’d rather be and nothing else I’d rather be doing every day,” Pehl says.

Health Care

Katherine Dempsey 

Katherine Dempsey is not intimidated by a formidable villain. In fact, her Ph.D. research in cancer biology targets a notoriously treatment-resistant disease: pancreatic cancer. She is determined to weaken pancreatic cancer cells by disrupting their ability to communicate with—and recruit—nearby cells. “Cancer cells require a lot of energy and begin relying on nearby cells for support,” she says. “My research focuses on cancer-associated fibroblasts, which are neighboring cells that have been hijacked and turned into accomplices providing nutrients and support to tumors.” The ultimate goal of her research, she says, is to “understand how cancer cells communicate with their environment, so that we can disrupt these signals, weaken the tumor’s support system, and make pancreatic cancer more vulnerable to treatment.”