STACEY S. PATTERSON

VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, TALLAHASSEE

Patterson oversees FSU’s research enterprise, which has more than $460 million annually in expenditures and more than 50 prominent research centers and institutes. More than 140 Office of Research staffers support FSU faculty working on everything from drug development to hurricane recovery to manufacturing. The enterprise also plays an active role in regional economic development efforts and last year led FSU’s first strategic plan for research, which laid the groundwork for the university to pursue big initiatives like working with Triumph Gulf Coast to stand up a manufacturing and innovation center in Panama City and working with local health care partners to expand health innovation throughout Northwest Florida.

EDUCATION: University of Tennessee, Knoxville (BS, Ph.D.), East Tennessee State University (MS)

FIRST JOB: My first real job was at McDonald’s when I was 17.

DREAM ALTERNATE CAREER: I would be a physician.

SOMETHING SURPRISING: I played the trumpet in the Pride of the Southland Marching Band at the University of Tennessee and met my husband there!