Suresh Garimella
President of the University of Arizona
University Distinguished Professor
Suresh Garimella serves as the 23rd president of the University of Arizona and University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, positions he assumed on October 1, 2024. Since then, he has emphasized the importance of the university’s distinct role as Arizona’s keystone, land-grant institution with student success as its North Star.
In his first year, Garimella led a collaborative process to generate Delivering on Our Promise, the U of A’s strategic imperatives—a shared vision for the institution’s future and guide for university initiatives, including the creation and implementation of academic success goals and strategic research initiatives. The three imperatives—Success for Every Student, Research that Shapes the Future, and Engagement with Our Communities to Create Opportunity—build on distinctive strengths and recommit to the land-grant mission. To sustain implementation of this vision, Garimella has focused on building a strong, aligned leadership team, as well as a robust foundation for the institution’s financial health, bringing the U of A out of a budget deficit.
Previously, Garimella was president of the University of Vermont (UVM) from 2019 to 2024. Under his leadership, the university doubled its research funding, leading to an R1 designation; provided a world-class student experience while freezing tuition for all students during his entire tenure; and committed to focused efforts fulfilling the land-grant mission, including creation of the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships.
Throughout his career, Garimella has emphasized the importance of access and affordability for students, and he has worked to promote excellence in the student learning experience. A professor of mechanical engineering, he is both a highly cited scholar and researcher and a passionate educator, mentoring over 90 graduate students and 50 post-doctoral scholars, 31 of whom were placed in prestigious faculty positions across the world. During his tenure as UVM’s president, he led an annual undergraduate seminar class devoted to engaging students in civil discourse on multifaceted contemporary issues.
As a researcher, Garimella has made seminal contributions to the field of electronics thermal management and energy efficiency at micro and nano scales, and in sustainable energy systems technology and policy. He is co-author of more than 625 refereed publications and 16 issued patents, and he has been recognized as an elected Member of the National Academy of Engineering and elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Garimella also has made important contributions to national and international policy. He served as a member of the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation and acts as an independent body of advisers to both the President and Congress on policy matters related to science and engineering. He also chairs the research advisory board of Sandia National Laboratories, is a long-standing member of the board of directors at Modine and the executive committee for the Council on Competitiveness, and previously served as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the U.S. Department of State and as Senior Fellow for Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas.
Prior to his time leading the University of Vermont, President Garimella served at Purdue University as the Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships. Under his leadership of Purdue’s $660 million research enterprise, the university achieved five consecutive record years in sponsored funding, seeded approximately 50 startups annually, and developed strategic and comprehensive partnerships with major corporations, NGOs, and national governments in Colombia, India, and the Middle East.
His educational background includes a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.S. from The Ohio State University, and a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.