IOWA CITY -- After losing its vice president for research earlier this year to Brown University, the University of Iowa has named a successor in UI alumnus David C. Schwebel, who's served as associate vice president for research facilities and infrastructure at the University of Alabama at Birmingham since 2021.
Schwebel -- who will begin July 1 -- earned a bachelor's in psychology from Yale University and his master's and doctorate in clinical psychology from the UI. He accepted an assistant professorship with the University of Alabama in 2000 and became a full professor in 2009 -- taking on administrative posts along the way.
After heading Alabama's departments of Philosophy and Social Work, Schwebel served as associate dean for research and then faculty affairs before stepping into the associate vice president role three years ago.
He succeeds Marty Scholtz, who in February announced plans to leave the UI for the job of deputy vice president for research at Brown University. He left about five years after starting his tenure as UI vice president for research in 2019.
Shortly after beginning in the role, Scholtz found himself navigating an unprecedented research environment complicated by COVID-19 -- counting among his achievements the tricky ramping down and then back up of research operations during that time.
He led a partnership between the State Hygienic Lab and state of Iowa to deliver an at-home COVID-19 testing program; increased research expenditures 30 percent from $508 million to more than $660 million; and diversified external funding sources.
The university, following his departure announcement, launched a national search -- bringing two finalists to campus in October, including Schwebel.
The other finalist was Belinda Sue McSwain Sturm, director of the Kansas National Science Foundation's Program to Stimulate Competitive Research and environmental engineering professor at the University of Kansas.
Schwebel has published more than 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts, with most focused on understanding and preventing unintentional injury in children, adolescents and young adults, according to his Alabama biography.
He directed the UAB Youth Safety Lab and developed injury prevention techniques for a range of situations like pedestrian safety, school playground safety and drowning prevention, among other things.
He's received more than $12 million in external funding to support his research program.
"I am grateful for this special opportunity to return to Iowa City and serve the campus as vice president for research," Schwebel said in a statement. "I look forward to supporting and accelerating the productivity and impact of the impressive research, scholarship, and creative activity that Iowa faculty, students, and staff conduct to improve the lives of people across Iowa and around the world. It will be an honor to play a role in that effort."
In addition to serving as vice president, Schwebel will be a tenured professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The UI did not immediately respond to a question of how much he'll be paid.