David W. Hatchett, Ph.D., is the vice president for research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where he serves as the university's chief research officer and provides strategic leadership for a rapidly growing research enterprise advancing UNLV's Carnegie R1 mission. He oversees the Division of Research, including research development, sponsored programs, research compliance, commercialization, core facilities, and innovation initiatives, with a focus on expanding research capacity, strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration, and increasing the societal impact of research.

Hatchett has led UNLV's research enterprise through a period of significant growth and rapid change in the federal research landscape. His leadership has strengthened research infrastructure, expanded strategic investments in faculty and shared research facilities, enhanced interdisciplinary research initiatives, and increased partnerships with government, industry, healthcare organizations, and the community. He has guided the university through evolving federal funding priorities and regulatory changes while advancing initiatives that improve research competitiveness, operational excellence, and innovation. Under his leadership, UNLV has expanded strategic research capabilities in areas including brain health, advanced manufacturing, quantum science, energy, water security, nuclear science, and artificial intelligence, creating new opportunities for interdisciplinary discovery and translational impact.

Hatchett's leadership is founded on the belief that research excellence is achieved by investing in people as much as infrastructure. He is committed to creating an environment where faculty and students have access to the resources, facilities, partnerships, and experiential opportunities needed to pursue innovative, applied research that addresses real-world challenges. By aligning strategic investments with faculty expertise and student engagement, he has championed initiatives that integrate research, education, workforce development, and innovation, preparing the next generation of researchers and professionals while accelerating the translation of discovery into societal benefit. His leadership emphasizes strategic alignment, data-driven decision-making, transparency, collaboration, and empowering the university community to transform research into solutions that improve health, strengthen the economy, enhance national security, and benefit Nevada and beyond.

Hatchett remains an active scholar whose research focuses on the dissolution, coordination, and electrochemical recovery of strategic minerals and critical materials—including lithium, rare-earth elements, and actinides—using ionic liquids. His work has pioneered innovative approaches for the sustainable recovery, recycling, and reuse of strategically important materials, resulting in multiple U.S. and international patents that strengthen domestic supply chain resilience while reducing environmental impacts. By translating fundamental discoveries in chemistry and electrochemistry into practical technologies with commercial, industrial, and societal applications, his research exemplifies the integration of basic science, innovation, and economic development. Equally important, his research has provided undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers with hands-on opportunities to engage in multidisciplinary, applied research that bridges the laboratory and real-world implementation. This commitment to experiential learning and translational research reflects his broader vision that universities achieve their greatest impact by empowering faculty and students to solve complex societal challenges while transforming discovery into innovations that benefit communities, industry, and the nation.

Learn how UNLV research makes an impact in the 2025 Discovery with Impact publication.