Office of Enterprise Research and Innovation (OERI) Appoints Chief Scientist

Suffolk, VA – May 10, 2024 – The ODU Office of Enterprise Research and Innovation (OERI) is excited to announce the selection of Dr. Michael L. Nelson as the OERI Chief Scientist. The Chief Scientist’s role leverages and bridges Research and Development (R&D) efforts across OERI centers while advising executive directors, research faculty, and project scientists on research initiatives.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Michael Nelson as OERI’s Chief Scientist,” said Dr. Eric Weisel, ODU Senior Associate Vice President for Applied Research. “Dr. Nelson’s extensive experience and distinguished career at ODU make him the ideal leader to drive our research and development initiatives forward. We are confident that Dr. Nelson’s leadership expertise and vision will be instrumental in integrating efforts across our centers and drive innovation and research forward.”

Dr. Nelson, who has been with ODU since 2002, is a professor and eminent scholar in the ODU Department of Computer Science and the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center (VMASC). He is also the deputy director of the School of Data Science, as well as co-leader of the Web Science and Digital Libraries Research Group. Prior to joining ODU, Dr. Nelson worked at the NASA Langley Research Center, where he developed the NASA Technical Reporter Server (NTRS).

“I’m excited to help ODU’s Office of Enterprise Research and Innovation (OERI) evolve, grow, and meet the demands for applied research in the region, state, and country,” said Dr. Nelson. “I’m looking forward to applying my 22 plus years of experience at ODU to help prepare the next generation of research faculty as ODU, OERI, and our regional partners are uniquely positioned as a model for university research in the 21st century.” 

Dr. Nelson’s research interests include web archiving, disinformation, digital libraries, social media, and information retrieval. Dr. Nelson has (co-)authored over 300 technical publications, has been (co-)PI on 39 grants and (co-)advised 15 Ph.D. students.

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About OERI: Old Dominion University’s (ODU) Office of Enterprise Research and Innovation (OERI) is the University’s largest division of research. OERI unifies and focuses the advanced research of six distinct and diverse multidisciplinary applied research centers. The OERI also manages a robust portfolio of contracts and leads the University’s engagement in several formal partnerships.