Office of Research Affairs (ORA)
Last Updated: October 22, 2026 9:38:36 AM PDT
Give feedback
ORA is the administrative team within the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation (ORI).
Below you’ll find a list of contacts within the department
Leadership
- Faith Hawkins, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation
- Sam Ward, PT, Ph.D., Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation
For scheduling with AVC Hawkins or SAVC Ward, contact Brent Cassella at ora-admin@ucsd.edu.
ORI Administration
- Lana Panetta, Administrative Assistant to the VCRI, lpanetta@ucsd.edu
- Ella Hogue, Administrative Assistant, ehogue@ucsd.edu
- Brent Cassella, Administrative Assistant, brcassella@ucsd.edu
ORI Human Resources
- Ingrid Pyper, Human Resources Business Partner (OCGA, OIC), ipyper@ucsd.edu
- Tawni Cavazos, Human Resources Generalist (RCI, ORA), tmgrant@ucsd.edu
- Parisa Yazdani, Human Resources Generalist (ORUs), pyazdani@ucsd.edu
- Rachel Sandecki, Human Resources Assistant, rsandecki@ucsd.edu
ORI Academic Personnel
- Linda Bartolome, Academic Personnel Manager, ljbartolome@ucsd.edu
- Catherine Schumacher, Academic Personnel Manager, cdschumacher@ucsd.edu
- Isabel Castaneda, Academic Personnel Assistant, icastaneda@ucsd.edu
For more information visit ORU Core Services Academic Personnel.
ORI Finance
- Kyle Nakanishi, Director, Business Operations, knakanishi@ucsd.edu
- Jessica Sergi, Financial Manager, jsergi@ucsd.edu
- Robert Clark, Financial Analyst, rmc010@ucsd.edu
Research Outreach and Development
International Innovation
Miwako Waga, Senior Director for International Innovation Outreach, mwaga@ucsd.edu
Research Development
- Meg Sparling, Associate Director, msparling@ucsd.edu
- Brittney De Alicante, Proposal Manager, bdealicante@ucsd.edu
- Karen Gutierrez, Project Coordinator, k7gutierrez@ucsd.edu
- I-Hsun Wu, Graphic Designer, iwu@ucsd.edu
For more information visit Research Development.
Research Growth and Strategic Initiatives
- Devon Tolliver, VCRI Events and Committee for Community Building Program Director, dntolliver@ucsd.edu
- Lisa Trahan, Associate Director, Research Growth Coordinator, ltrahan@ucsd.edu
Natural Reserve System
- Kellie Uyeda, Ph.D., Executive Director, kuyeda@ucsd.edu
- Clarissa Rodriguez, Reserves Manager, csrodriguez@ucsd.edu
- Jonathan Shurin, NRS Faculty Director, jshurin@ucsd.edu
- Sean Smith, Reserves Steward, ses015@ucsd.edu
For more information visit UC San Diego Natural Reserve System.
Visiting and Research Scholars
- Linda Bartolome, Research Scholar Manager, ljbartolome@ucsd.edu
ORI Communications
- Debra Bass, Director of Communications, dbass@ucsd.edu
- University-wide Communications Requests, marcom@ucsd.edu
Looking for something else?
General Inquiries: vcresearch@ucsd.edu
Scheduling, VCRI Corinne Peak-Asa: vcr-assistant@ucsd.edu