Mark Van Dyke named Vice President for Research at Colorado School of Mines

Colorado School of Mines is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Van Dyke as Vice President of Research. 

A biomedical engineer with 35 years of experience in university research, technology entrepreneurship and industry, Van Dyke currently serves as associate dean of research for the College of Engineering at the University of Arizona. He will officially join the Mines community on July 20. 

As Vice President for Research, Van Dyke will oversee all research activity at Mines and serve as the public face of the university’s diverse research portfolio. A public R1 research institution focused on solving the world’s critical scientific and engineering challenges, Mines was awarded more than $136 million in research funding in FY 2025. 

“We’re excited to have Mark join us in this key leadership role. He has great insight into the rapidly changing research landscape in the U.S. and what industry and government agencies are looking for from their university partners,” Mines President Paul C. Johnson said. “Mark’s personal journey — with experiences and successes as a faculty researcher, entrepreneur and university leader — and his passion for supporting faculty and technology development and commercialization make him a great fit for Mines, especially at this time when our unique expertise and capabilities are so relevant to national needs.” 

“Colorado School of Mines has a fantastic reputation on a national and international scale, and the Mines faculty really punches above their weight in terms of publication and impact in journals, activity in professional societies and leadership in their fields of research,” Van Dyke said. "I’m honored to serve as the next Vice President for Research and help build on that strong foundation to expand the reach and impact of the world-changing research happening in energy, critical minerals, quantum and more across this one-of-a-kind STEM-focused institution.”  

At Arizona, Van Dyke spent six years as associate dean of research for the College of Engineering, leading major efforts to increase the size, scope and impact of the research enterprise of the College of Engineering, resulting in a tripling of annual research expenditures. He oversaw the development of six new research centers – including the first-ever joint centers between the state’s three public universities, Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University – as well as significant facilities upgrades, expansion of industry partnerships and implementation of a new faculty onboarding program.  

As a full professor in Arizona’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, he also continued to conduct sponsored research on biomaterial and biomimetic systems, largely for medical device applications, and co-directed two courses in technology entrepreneurship. 

Before joining Arizona in 2020, Van Dyke held faculty positions at Virginia Tech and the Wake Forest School of Medicine. From 2012 to 2020, he served as an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics at Virginia Tech, receiving more than $5.75 million in research funding and acting as PI on many biomaterials-related research projects, as well as an instructor and course director for numerous undergraduate and graduate classes.  

He began his academic career at Wake Forest, where he served as an assistant professor at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine from 2004 to 2012. While there, he developed an extensive patent portfolio and started two companies that licensed the intellectual property created in his research group, acting as Chief Scientific Officer for one of the companies. 

Throughout his academic career, Van Dyke’s research and teaching have focused on biomaterials and their application to tissue engineering and trauma, as well as technology entrepreneurship. He has published more than 100 papers and book chapters, is an inventor or co-inventor on 42 issued U.S. patents and more than 80 U.S. and international patents pending, and a co-founder of three startup companies. He spent 16 years in industry and contract research before entering academia.  

Van Dyke holds a PhD in Materials Science from the University of Cincinnati and a B.S. in chemistry from Central Michigan University. At Mines, Van Dyke's academic home will be the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.  

"University research has long been a cornerstone of U.S. science and innovation – it's so important and so valuable, but it no longer sells itself,” Van Dyke said. “Mines’ culture, size, location and unique space occupied as a STEM-focused university lends itself to being creative, nimble and out of the box. I firmly believe Mines will be able to step forward into a national conversation about the value and impact of what we do and provide not only leadership but a standard for university research that research-intensive organizations of all sizes can look to.”