Paul Cherukuri is the Donna and Richard Tadler University Professor of Entrepreneurship and the University of Virginia’s inaugural Chief Innovation Officer, with joint faculty appointments as Professor of Practice in the McIntire School of Commerce and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Professor Cherukuri leads UVA Innovates, the University’s pan-institutional platform advancing innovation and entrepreneurship across students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners. His work bridges research, commercialization, and public impact—moving ideas from discovery to deployment at scale.

A physicist, chemist, inventor, and entrepreneur, Professor Cherukuri brings deep experience across academia, industry, and venture creation. Prior to joining UVA, he served as the inaugural Vice President for Innovation and Chief Innovation Officer at Rice University, where he helped build the university’s innovation ecosystem. There, he founded the Rice Biotech Launch Pad to accelerate life-saving technologies, launched the Woodside–Rice Decarbonization Accelerator, a $12.5 million partnership with Woodside Energy focused on converting greenhouse gases into next-generation materials, and established Rice Nexus in Houston’s Ion District to support AI-driven startups and translational research. Earlier, as Executive Director of the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering, he built interdisciplinary partnerships with federal agencies and industry and helped secure nearly $40 million to advance research toward commercialization.

Professor Cherukuri’s training spans physics, chemistry, materials engineering, biotechnology, and therapeutic development. He earned his B.S. in Physics from the University of Kentucky and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Rice University, followed by visiting scholar appointments at Harvard University and MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has co-founded venture-backed companies, served as Chief Technical Officer of MAReNIR Technologies, and worked as a Senior Scientist at Sanofi, developing drug products and medical devices.

Across his career, Professor Cherukuri has focused on turning knowledge into impact. At UVA, he is building a university-wide innovation ecosystem that connects discovery to entrepreneurship—strengthening cross-school collaboration, expanding industry and government partnerships, and helping faculty and students translate ideas into ventures that advance economic growth and the public good.