UCF’s Office of Research has appointed Marc Mendonca as associate vice president for research and scholarship.
In this role, Mendonca will oversee UCF’s internal research initiatives and funding programs, as well as the Office of Research’s centers and institutes. He’ll also work to ensure optimal efficiency of core research facilities — including the clean room and the materials characterization facility — and support key departments like the Institutional Review Board and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
“Mendonca’s distinguished expertise in research leadership and strategic planning aligns well with our university’s mission,” says Winston Schoenfeld, UCF’s vice president for research and innovation. “His proven ability to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and cultivate a thriving research environment positions him to significantly advance our academic enterprise. I am confident that his leadership will elevate our support of UCF researchers, driving impactful discoveries and academic excellence.”
Before joining UCF, Mendonca served as the director of research development at Indiana University (IU). He has also held multiple research administrative roles, including associate vice chancellor and interim vice chancellor for research at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis , and associate vice president for research at IU. As part of IU’s Office of Research leadership team, he helped support more than $750 million in annual external funding.
In addition, he served as director of the radiation and cancer biology division at IU’s School of Medicine and participated in several strategic research task forces that helped increase external grant funding .
“Successful research and innovation is not a ‘top-down’ or abstract exercise. It must be rooted in the real strengths of our faculty, staff and students — shaped by those closest to the work and supported through thoughtful investment in people…” Mendonca says.
Mendonca credits that experience — along with other administrative roles — for shaping his approach to research leadership, emphasizing the importance of aligning strategy with institutional strengths by engaging with all stakeholders.
“Successful research and innovation planning is not a ‘top-down’ or abstract exercise,” he says. “It must be rooted in the real strengths of our faculty, staff and students — shaped by those closest to the work and supported through thoughtful investment in people, whether through training, collaboration or strategic recruitment.”
As a professor of radiation oncology and medical and molecular genetics, Mendonca is an internationally known researcher with an extensive scholarship in X-ray and proton radiation biology, particularly as it relates to clinical applications of radiation therapy. Over the course of his 31-year career, he has secured more than $27 million in grant funding with his collaborators from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, NASA, and the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense.
His research focuses on better understanding the challenges and benefits of radiation in clinical settings, the environment, and for astronauts exposed to solar and cosmic radiation.
“I’ve always believed that research and creative activity not only enrich our lives but drive progress,” Mendonca says. “My interest in radiation biophysics developed very early in my career while training in a lab at Mass General Hospital in Boston and then working in a radiation oncology lab in Koln, Germany, before graduate school. It was during that time that my deep commitment to research and discovery really grew, and it’s what drives me to this day.”
Since 2011 Mendonca has served as editor-in-chief of the journal Radiation Research, where he established significant research collaborations in Canada, China, India, the European Union and the United Kingdom. In 2022 he was named a fellow of the Radiation Research Society. He is also a member of many other professional organizations, including the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society for Radiation Oncology, the American Board of Radiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
“I have been fortunate to have had many excellent mentors and administrators throughout my career who have taught me the essential soft skills you need to be a successful academic, researcher and administrator,” Mendonca says. “Soft skills help build partnerships across disciplines, which can make local discoveries become potentially globally recognized contributions.”
Mendonca earned a doctoral degree in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of the Holy Cross. As a student at Holy Cross, he worked at a local hospital, where he became interested in the multifaceted nature of healthcare delivery and research — a passion that now drives him to support his mentees across a variety of healthcare disciplines.
“With my background in radiation and cancer biology, biophysics and clinical translation, I’ve learned how crucial building the right environment can be to grow interdisciplinary research,” he says. “The importance of research and creative activity in education cannot be overstated; students flourish when their curiosity is supported. Creating space for questions, exploration, and discovery is essential for new ideas as our students evolve into their successful careers in the private sector, academics, medicine, and other industries.”
Mendonca begins his role at UCF in July and plans to start with a guiding principle: “Once we understand the needs of our student, faculty, and staff researchers, we should embrace and support their ambition. By helping every eligible faculty member secure at least one grant, we can meaningfully increase research funding and ignite innovation and creativity across all disciplines,” he says.
