SURA Announces New Leadership on the Board of Directors

WASHINGTON - Jan. 28, 2026 - PRLog -- The Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) welcomes new leadership on the 2026 Board of Directors. Leading the 2026 Board, P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., assumes the role of Chair, with Daniel Sui, Ph.D., stepping in as Vice Chair. In addition, the Board has appointed two new Committee Chairs: Joseph (Josh) Gladden, Ph.D., and Padma Raghavan, Ph.D., to chair the Finance Committee and Information Technology (IT) Committee, respectively.

"Under the 2026 Board of Directors, SURA continues to expand its partnerships with our members performing world-leading science and engineering for the nation," said SURA President & CEO, Sean Hearne, Ph.D.

P. Srirama Rao, Vice President for Research and Innovation at Virginia Commonwealth University, takes the helm as Board Chair with a history of big ideas and industrious leadership. Throughout nearly 30 years in administrative and research leadership, Rao has accelerated investment in basic and translational research and cultivated global collaborations. Rao's strengths in partnership building and visionary thinking position him to adeptly lead SURA towards new connections and opportunities.

Daniel Sui, Senior Vice President and Chief Research and Innovation Officer at Virginia Tech, brings a wealth of expertise in governance and resource stewardship to the role of Vice Chair. His approach draws from 22 years of leadership experience in research infrastructure, cross-institutional alliances, and research portfolio management. In his leadership term, Sui plans to strengthen SURA's scientific impact, fiscal resilience, and national relevance.

In addition to the Board Chairs, SURA gains two new Committee Chairs.

Josh Gladden, Vice President for Research at Temple University, has assumed the position of Finance Committee Chair. In this role, Gladden plans to optimize SURA's path forward financially in service of its mission through its unique strengths in collaboration. Additionally, Padma Raghavan, the Chancellor's Executive Director for Science and Technology Strategy at Vanderbilt University, has been appointed to chair the IT Committee. As an expert in high performance computing, Raghavan offers key insights to drive the IT Committee forward as it seeks to maximize its effectiveness in the new wave of AI and computing.

Gladden and Raghavan join several returning Committee Chairs on the SURA Board of Directors: Andres Gil, Ph.D., Florida International University (Development & Relations); Omar Faison, Ph.D., Virginia State University (Minority-Serving Institutions); William Moore, Ph.D., Hampton University (Space Science & Technology); and Robert Twilley, Ph.D., Louisiana State University (Coastal & Environmental Research).

Read the full announcement on SURA's website: https://sura.org/sura-2026-board-leadership/

SURA is a consortium of fifty-seven member universities that fosters collaborations which enhance members' capabilities of undertaking significant, transformative scientific research projects that no single institution can handle independently.