John Daniels

John Daniels serves as Vice Chancellor for the Division of Research. The division strives to advance the quality, diversity and growth of research at UNC Charlotte.

Daniels, a member of the faculty since 2001, served as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 2012-22. He also served as program director in the Directorate for Engineering at the National Science Foundation where he was responsible for research within geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering, engineering education, engineering research centers and a variety of cross-disciplinary programs.

The textbook he co-authored with H-Y. Fang, “Introductory Geotechnical Engineering: An Environmental Perspective,” was released in 2006. He also has over 100 publications in various journals, book chapters, conference proceedings and technical reports. He has worked for TRC Environmental Corporation as a project engineer and is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in North Carolina.

He is a program evaluator for ABET, Inc. and was elected Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2018.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and a master’s and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. His research is focused on engineered water repellency, with an active award from NSF, titled “Engineered Water Repellency to Mitigate Frost Susceptibility: Decoupling Osmotic and Matric Potential.”

Daniels volunteers with the Boy Scouts of America and Nativity of the Holy Virgin Orthodox Church.

Daniels became interim vice chancellor in November 2022, and he was appointed to the permanent role in November 2023.