Dr. Allen Parrish will serve as the interim vice president for research and economic development at The University of Alabama.
Currently the executive director of the Alabama Transportation Institute, Parrish was appointed by President Stuart R. Bell to oversee the Office of Research and Economic Development effective May 27.
Parrish will continue the growth of UA’s research enterprise, building on the University’s designation by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education as a Very High Research Activity doctoral university, the nation’s highest level of research activity. UA has seen record growth in sponsored awards, faculty engagement with research and partnership with industry over the past few years.
This summer, a national search for the permanent vice president of research and economic development will begin.
Parrish has worked at UA for 29 years, the last three as ATI executive director, overseeing rapid growth in the areas of connected infrastructure, shared mobility, electrification and safety.
Before ATI, Parrish was away from UA from 2016 to 2020, serving as associate vice president for research and professor of computer science and engineering at Mississippi State University and chair of the Department of Cyber Science at the United States Naval Academy.
He served for 26 years on the UA faculty in a variety of roles, including professor of computer science, associate vice president for research and founding director of the Center for Advanced Public Safety.
Throughout his career, Parrish secured over 200 funded projects totaling over $100 million from state and federal sponsors. He has published in refereed journals in areas as diverse as data science, software engineering, transportation safety and technology education.
Parrish originally joined UA in 1990 in the department of computer science and was promoted to full professor in 2005.