David Luzzi

Biography

David E. Luzzi is senior vice provost for research and vice president for the Northeastern University Innovation Campus at Burlington, Massachusetts. He is responsible for the growth and impact of the Innovation Campus and the university research enterprise across its global campus network with its strategic foci on human health, security, and sustainability. Northeastern’s research enterprise has grown almost 500% since 2010 and is now the sixth largest among private research universities without medical schools, a list that includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and Carnegie Mellon University.

Luzzi has extensive experience in security-related research and leadership. He was a member of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Cyber Supply Chain Risk and is a member of the board of directors of the Advanced Cyber Security Center and a founder/board member of the International Cyber Security Center of Excellence. He was a science and technology advisor with the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group from 1999 to 2000, and a member of the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board from 2003 to 2008. In 2006-2007, he was the science and technology chair of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, leading the review of the $3.6 billion a year Air Force Science and Technology program. In 2008, Luzzi was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal by the U.S. Air Force.

At Northeastern, the 70,000-square-foot George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security on the Innovation Campus was built under Luzzi’s direction. Receiving an FCL in 2013, it has achieved the highest superior rating from the DSS/DCSA in every vulnerability exercise. The security program and spaces are run through the university wholly-owned subsidiary, KRI at Northeastern University, LLC (KRI LLC) of which Luzzi is the chair of the board of directors. KRI LLC was an awardee of the DCSA James S. Cogswell Award in 2023. The Innovation Campus contains specialized facilities for security research, some unique in the world.

Luzzi’s research program executed projects for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and NATO, as well as the National Science Foundation, NASA, the European Union, and other federal and state agencies and corporations. At Northeastern, he leads S&T contracts at the Kostas Institute with the U.S. Department of Defense in the areas of artificial intelligence, autonomy, command post modernization, geospatial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and expeditionary sustainment. In 2012, Luzzi was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and in 2021 was elected to the National Academy of Inventors.

Prior to joining Northeastern as dean of the College of Engineering, Luzzi served for 20 years on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught materials and nanoscience, and engaged in research on atomic level structure and processes. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Nuclear and Thermonuclear Energy from Stevens Institute of Technology, his PhD in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University, and MBA from the Wharton School of Business, where he was a Palmer Scholar. He is also a graduate of the Institute for Defense Analyses Defense Science Study Group. He has authored over 130 publications and patents on nanoscale phenomena, instrumentation, and materials, cited in over 9,000 publications. He has conducted three years of research in Japan as a Visiting Professor at Kyoto University (1996-1997) and a Research Fellow at Osaka University (1984-1985). Luzzi’s research group discovered the Peapod class of nanomaterials, developing synthesis routes, solving structures and demonstrating unique properties. For this work, Luzzi received the George Heilmeier Award for Research Innovation; the research was highlighted on the cover of Science in 2002. In 2000, Luzzi was a founder of the Nanotechnology Institute, a 12-institution consortium led by the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and the Ben Franklin Technology Partners, an economic development organization. By the end of its first decade of operation, the Nanotechnology Institute had over 800 IP assets under management, brought over $280 million in public and private investment to the region, and fostered the creation of 43 companies. Two companies were spun out of Luzzi’s research lab.