I wrote in my last message that I had publicly announced that I would step down as Vice President for Research (VPR) at Notre Dame on June 30, 2022. Due to transition in the Provost’s Office last winter, the search for the new VPR was paused until a new Provost was hired. As a result, I agreed to stay on in my role as VPR post-June 30th until a new VPR is in place. I call it “going into overtime.” The VPR search will restart very soon. While I hope the overtime period is short, it is an exciting time at Notre Dame with University level strategic planning underway and numerous external opportunities—there is no problem staying motivated!

In March, the University announced the election of John McGreevy as the new Charles and Jill Fischer Provost at Notre Dame effective July 1. John is a Professor of History and a former Chair of History and Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Notre Dame. I know John to be very smart with high standards, ambitious for Notre Dame, and a very good listening and conversation partner. I’ve already had several meetings with John and am confident that research at Notre Dame is destined for another period of growth in scope, impact, and reputation.

One of the exciting events I referred to earlier was the recent Hypersonics Day at Notre Dame on June 6. Over many years the University has built assets that are applicable to the current economic and security priority of hypersonics. For example, several years ago the University completed construction of the country’s largest Mach 6 quiet wind tunnel. We are currently designing a Mach 10 quiet tunnel that will start construction this fall. The Notre Dame Turbomachinery Lab (NDTL) has also developed the capability to use the “air plant” capability it built for supplying air at appropriate velocity, pressure, and temperature for aircraft engines to the capability to test hypersonic propulsion systems. Hypersonics Day consisted of a very well-attended workshop on workforce development for hypersonics, laboratory tours, and a ribbon-cutting for the two new hypersonics propulsion test facilities at NDTL. More than 120 people attended, including Senator Todd Young, as well as corporate and Department of Defense leaders.

Another recent major event is the announcement of gifts from the McCourtney family and the Lilly Endowment to fund the construction of a new research building connected to our existing McCourtney Hall that will house research programs in human and environmental health. The new building will be over 200,000 square feet and will allow us to co-locate programs in community and global health, ecology, data science, and tissue engineering. These areas represent exciting themes we are building at Notre Dame. We look forward to the tremendous benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration and new state-of-the-art facilities.

I offer one last reflection for this newsletter. Over Memorial Day weekend the University invited the Class of 2020 for a long-delayed celebration of their graduation. Attendance was excellent. Commencement weekend is always special at Notre Dame, but this was especially joyful as the Class of 2020 gathered to get closure with their classmates and friends. I was honored to be invited to give the Commencement address (or, rather, a “you’ve already commenced” address) at the Graduate School commencement ceremony. My theme was “in transition - seek joy.” The address borrowed significantly from reflections on my own impending transition. The thoughts I shared were applied to graduate school graduation and commencement to a new phase of life but the principles are general and timeless. I offer a link in case these thoughts might be interesting to you.

Yours in Notre Dame,

Bob Bernhard
Vice President for Research