USU President Elizabeth (Betsy) R. Cantwell

Elizabeth (Betsy) R. Cantwell became Utah State University’s 17th president on Aug. 1, 2023.

Before joining USU, she was the senior vice president for research and innovation at the University of Arizona, where she oversaw an estimated $825 million annual research portfolio, including the UA Tech Park and a research enterprise spanning 20 colleges, 12 centers/institutes, and affiliated organizations across Arizona conducting classified and contractual work. She actively supported student-athlete programs and initiatives that connected athletics to the land-grant mission, recognizing their power to engage communities and highlight the university’s positive impact.

Cantwell previously served as Arizona State University’s vice president for research development and CEO of the ASU Research Enterprise. She led an organization of 150 and expanded the overall research enterprise at ASU from $435 million to $680 million over three years. In her CEO role, she grew the applied research entity from no contracts to $15 million in annual awards.

Cantwell's career also includes extensive service to U.S. national security. She held leadership roles at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos National Laboratories. Her work advanced critical missions in energy, defense, and space exploration, collaborating with key federal agencies such as the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Defense (DOD), NASA, and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

Cantwell is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School (MBA, 2003); the University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, 1992); and the University of Chicago (BA, Human Behavior 1976).

A member of the National Academy of Sciences Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on NASA Critical Workforce, Technology & Infrastructure, Cantwell has also served as the co-chair of the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and as a member of several National Academies studies in space science, space systems engineering, National Laboratories operations, and advanced manufacturing. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in industrial science and technology. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the managing entity for the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory.