Greeting and Opening Remarks - Chancellor Glen D. Johnson

Oklahoma Research Day 2021 will officially begin with a  greeting and opening remarks delivered by Chancellor Glen D. Johnson.

Dr. Glen D. Johnson is the chief executive officer for the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education. Johnson leads a state system comprised of 25 state colleges and universities, 10 constituent agencies, two university centers, and independent colleges and universities coordinated with the state system. He reports to a constitutional board whose nine members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.

Johnson is an honors graduate of the University of Oklahoma, with an undergraduate degree in political science and a juris doctorate degree from the OU College of Law. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and currently serves on the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity National Foundation board of directors.

Johnson holds memberships in numerous professional, state and national organizations and has been the recipient of many awards and honors during his career. In 2012 he was elected to the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and currently serves as vice chairman. In 2014, Johnson was appointed to the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) Council of Presidents. In 2014, he was elected to serve on the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) Executive Committee.

He is also a founding member of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence in 1986. He is a member of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame’s Executive Board of Directors and was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in November of 2006. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 2016. He is a member of the Oklahoma State Fair Board of Directors. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Oklahoma City University in 2009 and has been named as a Life Fellow of The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. Johnson also received the State Higher Education Executive Officers’ (SHEEO) Exceptional Leader Award in July of 2019. 

Keynote Address - C. Michael Carolina

The keynote address for Oklahoma Research Day will be delivered by C. Michael Carolina.

C. Michael Carolina is the executive director of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST). Before joining OCAST, he worked in management and executive positions with the Western Electric Company, AT&T and Lucent Technologies. While with AT&T and Lucent Technologies, he was involved in engineering, strategic planning, new product design and introduction, manufacturing, technology transfer, and joint venture operations in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Carolina earned his B.S. in biological sciences from Oklahoma State University (OSU) in 1967 and his M.S. in environmental science from the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 1971. In 1986, he completed AT&T’s Executive Development Program in Princeton, NJ. He serves on numerous committees and boards, including the Dean’s Strategic Advisory Council for the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology; the OSU-Oklahoma City President’s Advisory Board; the Advisory Board for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Gallogly College of Engineering, University of Oklahoma; the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF); the advisory board of the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma; and the President’s Council of Advisors at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO).

In 2016, Carolina was inducted into the University of Oklahoma Gallogly College of Engineering Distinguished Graduates Society. In 2018, the OSU Alumni Association named Carolina as a recipient of its Distinguished Alumni Award. Carolina is a board member of the United Way of Central Oklahoma, the Academy for State Goals and a Trustee of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. In 2021, Carolina was appointed to the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) Standing Council under the National Science Foundation (NSF).