Dear Spartans,

Building something from the ground up takes persistence, intellect and vision. Equipped with these traits, Dr. Mohamed Abousalem arrived on campus nearly five years ago as the inaugural Vice President for Research and Innovation. Now, the time has come to say farewell to Mohamed, who will be leaving SJSU on May 17 to assume the presidency at Keck Graduate Institute, a member of The Claremont Colleges.

Under Mohamed’s leadership, support for RSCA has grown throughout the campus, enabling students to participate in hands-on learning and research that opens doors to careers in Silicon Valley. With a significant growth in grant awards over the past five years, along with the creation of our intellectual property support system for patents, our faculty have been able to further explore critical areas like AI, wildfires, marine life, public health, education and many more. Mohamed has also established SJSU as a leader in research among the CSU campuses through his two-term role as the Chair of the California State University Council of Chief Research Officers and leading our progress to become an R2 institution.

For those with an entrepreneurial spirit, Mohamed guided the creation of the SJSU Silicon Valley Small Business Development Center and the SpartUp Incubator — which currently serves more than 700 students — to connect, train and support campus entrepreneurs with resources from the Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem. 

Prior to Mohamed’s departure in May, we will be able to celebrate the 2nd annual SJSU Research Week, which will take place April 15-19. I can’t think of a better way to grasp the impact of Mohamed’s leadership in the research and innovation space than to attend the events that week to see the full array of our RSCA activities. Thank you, Mohamed, for your leadership. You will always be a Spartan, and I wish you the best of luck in your new endeavor.

Sincerely,

Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson

President

(She/Her/Ella)