The University of Montana recently selected Dr. Paul Lukacs to serve as interim vice president for research and creative scholarship. Starting July 2, he will take the reins of UM’s “R1” research enterprise, which tallied nearly $150 million in science expenditures in fiscal year 2025.
Lukacs will serve as interim for one year, reporting directly to incoming UM President Jeremiah Shinn.
“I am very excited to serve UM as interim vice president for research,” Lukacs said. “This position provides an incredible opportunity to support faculty and students conducting impactful research. I am also excited to highlight the economic development and community engagement fostered by the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship.”
Originally from New Jersey, Lukacs earned an undergraduate degree in wildlife biology from UM in 1999, then his master’s and doctorate in fish and wildlife biology from Colorado State University.
He spent six years as a biometrician for Colorado Parks and Wildlife before returning to academia as an assistant professor of quantitative wildlife ecology at UM in 2011. He was elevated to full professor in 2020 and has held roles including chair of UM’s Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, senior associate dean of research and graduate studies, associate dean of the Graduate School, and associate vice president for research and creative scholarship.
“My primary goal for the next year is to help navigate UM through a changing research funding landscape in a way that allows us to seize opportunities to continue to grow,” Lukacs said. “I also will work to increase the rate at which our research translates into community impact.”
Lukacs has earned more than $11 million in research grants during his career and has published 106 peer-reviewed journal articles and eight book chapters.
He will replace outgoing Vice President Scott Whittenburg, who is retiring from UM after 13 years. During his tenure, Whittenburg led efforts that helped UM earn status as a “Very High Research Activity,” or R1, university under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. UM first achieved R1 status in 2022 and had it reaffirmed in 2025; fewer than 4% of U.S. degree-granting institutions hold the designation, and most of those have embedded medical or engineering schools.
Research expenditures at UM set an all-time record last fiscal year, increasing 173% under Whittenburg’s leadership over 12 consecutive years of research growth.