Tomás Díaz de la Rubia

Dr. Tomás Díaz de la Rubia is a science and technology leader, strategist, and administrator with extensive experience in national laboratories, academia, and the private sector. He has served as the deputy director for science and technology and chief research officer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, director in the strategy and operations energy practice at Deloitte Consulting, senior vice president and chief scientific officer at Purdue University, and most recently, vice president of research and partnerships at the University of Oklahoma. Tomas is a full professor of physics and of chemical, biological, and materials engineering.

In his last role, Tomas was among the lead authors of the University of Oklahoma's Lead On Strategic Plan, which guided OU's mission to become one of the nation's top-tier public research universities. This included efforts to advance the scale and scope of the university's research enterprise and its impact on workforce and regional economic development. He developed a new strategic framework and plan for research that propelled the university forward, particularly in aerospace and defense, energy and environmental sustainability, the future of health, Data Science and AI/ML, and materials science and quantum technology. In his time at OU, research expenditures increased 65%, and partnerships with the private sector, invention disclosures, and patent activity all increased markedly.