Dr. Almesha L. Campbell

Delivering the unveiling speech of the Ubuntu Trade app at the conference, Dr. Almesha L. Campbell, PhD., RTTP, is the Assistant Vice President for Research and Economic Development at Jackson State University (JSU). In this capacity, she supports the Vice President with overall responsibility for the Division of Research and Economic Development, which oversees the units of Grants and Contracts, Sponsored Programs, Research Compliance, Technology Transfer and Commercialization, Federal Relations, and the Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development.

She designs and manages programs around innovation, technology transfer, and commercialization to broaden the participation of underrepresented minorities in these areas. Dr. Campbell co-led the development of the JSU Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and created the JSU Innovation Fellows Program. She is the principal investigator or co-principal investigator for several federally funded programs at JSU including the National Science Foundation (NSF) Mid-South I-Corps Hub, the National Institutes of Health REACH Hub, the NSF Enabling SBE Science via the Network for Transformative Research program, the NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing Food Security and Climate Resilience (MS), and the recently awarded NSF ART program led by the University of Southern Mississippi.

She is the 2023 - 2024 Chair of the Board of Directors of AUTM. In addition to AUTM, she holds membership in professional organizations such as the Licensing Executives Society, Society of Research Administrators (SRA) International, and the American Society of Public Administration, and is an honorary member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).