Camelia Knapp

Director

I serve as the Head of the Boone Pickens School of Geology (BPSoG) at Oklahoma State University (OSU). Currently, the School employs 22 faculty (17 tenure-track/ career-track; 7 endowed chairs), 6 staff, 54 undergraduate students, 50 graduate students, and 2 postdoctoral fellows. The School has an operating budget of ~$2.5M, an endowment of over $15M, annual research expenditures in excess of $2.6M, and an annual scholarship cash balance of ~$700,000. Under my leadership, the School developed a new strategic plan, expanded the curriculum and degree programs, diversified the research portfolio and funding opportunities, improved the teaching and research facilities, advanced diversity, equity, and inclusion, increased the outreach activities, enhanced philanthropy and corporate engagement, and cultivated an environment of shared governance and transparency. KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS • Managed the School budget that includes salaries, operating expenses including facilities, research funds, scholarships and fellowships, and various Foundation funds including outreach, field camp, endowed chair positions, and corporate giving. • Worked closely and effectively with the School's Advisory Board to develop and implement a revised strategic plan emphasizing curriculum and degree program growth, research expansion, student success, innovation in classroom teaching, environmental justice, and fiscal stewardship. • Expanded the degree offerings by tripling the Bachelor of Science programs, adding new minors and concentrations, starting a new Professional Science Master's, adding a new certificate, and enhancing the PhD program leading the graduate program being ranked nationally. • Increased the endowed scholarships by 35% since 2020. • Increased the donor base and private corporate giving through successful targeted philanthropic programs including a fully funded residential geoscience summer program for underrepresented high-school students and a 2,200 sq ft student synergy room; also added several new endowed scholarships. • Created a structure to address and advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and globalization (DEIG) in collaboration with the School's Advisory Board. • Improved the infrastructure by finalizing a $2.5M core research facility, built an instructional computing lab, created a synergy room for the student organizations, renovated the conference room, created shipping and mailing facilities, and replaced a large part of the flooring. • Fostered external relationships with federal, state, and local government leaders to advance Energy Transition through interdisciplinary collaborations. • Piloted an environmental justice and social sustainability project for full alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in teaching, research, and service. • Held School recruiting booths and alumni and friends’ receptions at many national or regional conferences. • Led efforts to address the challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, including creating a Geology Task Force to address issues related to safety in classroom, research labs, communal areas, field activities, and PPE and cleaning supplies. • Hired several faculty and staff positions. • Worked closely with the 7 student organizations to organize career workshops and panels, short courses for our students, CAS or OSU recruiting events, and other activities.

Served as the Director of the self-funded Earth Sciences and Resources Institute (ESRI-SC) at the University of South Carolina (USC). I led a team of 5 full-time research and administrative staff, employed several student interns annually, and managed a research budget in excess of $10M. As the 3rd Director of this research institute that was founded in 1973, my efforts were channeled toward placing ESRI-SC at the epicenter of a large state-wide program with energy and environment focus. I helped expand the research funding to include broader energy and environment-related initiatives, such as renewable energy and onshore/ offshore carbon sequestration. We also placed emphasis on workforce development through enhancing the teaching and learning environment by providing research opportunities and internships to undergraduate and graduate students. KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS • Managed the Institute budget that included salaries, operating expenses, facilities, and research funds. • Managed advanced facilities for the acquisition, processing, interpretation, modeling, and visualization of geophysical data. • Rebranded the Institute to align it with a strategic plan to address the nation’s need to identify and access reliable, clean, efficient, and affordable energy sources. • Provided pre-professional training and paid internships to undergraduate and graduate students. • Created strategic alliances and established industrial affiliates through new R&D offshore exploration opportunities including wind energy and carbon storage. • Disseminated geoscience education among ethnically diverse STEM college students through a National Science Foundation grant in a partnership with Claflin University, a private HBCU. • Built interdisciplinary and cross-institutional partnerships, through NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), co-organizing conferences, supporting the University high-performance computing facilities, sponsoring events on and off campus, and facilitating large federal grants.