Dr. George E. Walker became Vice President for Research and Dean of the University Graduate School at Florida International University in September 2006.  From 2001 to 2006, he served as Senior Scholar and Director of Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.  Dr. Walker is a theoretical nuclear physicist who obtained his undergraduate education at Wesleyan University, his graduate education at Case Western University, and his post-doctoral education at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and at Stanford University.  Most of his scholarly career was at Indiana University, where he was Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School for many years.  He was twice honored by physics graduate students with the “Outstanding Contributions to Graduate Education” award, and by his peers through election as a Fellow of the American Physical Society.  He led the establishment of a Nuclear Theory Center at Indiana University.  He is also chair of the Physics and Advanced Technology Directorate Advisory Committee, and chair of the Nuclear Division Advisory Committee, both at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  In addition, he is a member of the National Advisory Board of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL).  Among many other boards, Walker has served as president of the Association of Graduate Schools of the Association of American Universities, as Chair of the Board of the Council of Graduate Schools, and as member of the National Advisory Board of the National Survey of Student Engagement.