Sharkey prepares for retirement

Neil Sharkey (pictured), vice-president for research at Penn State University, announced yesterday that he will retire on June 30 next year after 22 years with the institution.
Sharkey has held his current position since August 2013, when he accepted the job on an interim basis before a permanent promotion to the role in April 2016. His duties include advancing, facilitating and managing Penn state’s research activities.
During his time as vice-president, Sharkey led the creation of the office of industrial partnerships, which fosters strategic relationships between academic researchers and industry, and the office of commercialisation and entrepreneurship, which is responsible for providing resources to the university’s startup community.
Penn State’s research expenditures have reached record highs for two years running, with a peak of $927m in 2017-18, bolstered by a record $562m in federal funding.
Sharkey has also been involved in the launch of Invent Penn State, an incubation and commercialisation initiative that led to creation of 21 innovation hubs since January 2015.
Before becoming vice-president for research, Sharkey served as associate dean for research and graduate education in the College of Health and Human Development, where he is also a professor of kinesiology.
He previously served as director of research in the Department of Kinesiology and acting director of the Center for Locomotion Studies in the same department. He had joined Penn State’s faculty in 1997.
Sharkey hopes to spend his retirement travelling, spending time with family, playing music, gardening and enjoying the outdoors.
He said: “I am proud of the way we have been able to supercharge the university’s abilities in tech transfer and startup technologies, giving our entire university, from faculty to graduate students to undergraduates, the ecosystem and resources they need to succeed; to help drive the economy; and move all of our bright ideas, products and processes out to the market, more than Penn State’s ever done in the past.”