Sylvia Wilson Thomas

Vice President for Research & Innovation
President & CEO of the USF Research Foundation, Inc.
University of South Florida

Sylvia Wilson Thomas, PhD, is Vice President for Research & Innovation at the University of South Florida and President & CEO of the USF Research Foundation, Inc. As a member of USF’s presidential and provostial cabinets, Dr. Thomas directs, manages, and provides vision for USF’s $690M+ research and innovation enterprise. Through USF’s AAU (Association of American Universities) membership, Dr. Thomas serves as the AAU Senior Research Officer (SRO) for USF.

She has contributed to USF’s efforts for research and innovation, executive leadership, strategic planning and renewal, faculty success, consolidation, cultural transformation and underserved community engagement, institutional partnerships (national and international), and student recruitment, workforce development, and research/high impact practice experiences. She has also fostered and been engaged in collaborations and engineering education efforts in Italy, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Portugal, South Korea, Mexico, Panama, and South Africa.

Dr. Thomas is an Electrical Engineering full Professor, a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). She leads the USF Advanced Membrane and Materials Bio and Integration Research (AMBIR) laboratory for biomedical, biological, and nano electronic device integration using advanced material systems for membrane technology.

Having over 30 years of global experience with academia, non-profits, and industry, Dr. Thomas has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, proceedings, presentations, and six book chapters, and her creative, current affairs-driven projects have been supported by a wide-range of funders, from USF seed grants to the National Science Foundation for over $4.8M. As an advocate for innovation and collaborative engagement, she has produced 12 patents/patent disclosures, and assisted in the success of such companies as Bell Labs, Agere Systems, Lucent, Kimberly Clark Corporation, IBM, and Procter & Gamble. She was inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame in 2024.

Dr. Thomas serves as the president of the IEEE’s Engineering in Medicine and Biology Florida West Coast Section; Secretary/Treasurer of the Florida Education Fund; former advisor for the Society of Women Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and National Society of Black Engineers; and an inaugural member of the Board of Directors for Black Girls Code. She was inducted into the Florida chapter of the American Society of Engineering & Medicine in 2024, named to Florida Trend’s 500 Most Influential Business Leaders list in 2022, and presented with the Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) STEM Educational Leadership Award from US Black Engineer in 2020.

Dr. Thomas holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University, where she was a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow, and earned her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Howard University, as an NSF Materials Research Center of Excellence Fellow.