John Hopkins is Director of Strategic Operations working out of the Office of the Executive Vice President of the University of Tennessee.  He is also Director of Tennessee NSF and DOE EPSCoR programs, including the NSF Track I RII titled Tennessee Solar Conversion and Storage using Outreach, Research, and Education – TN-SCORE.  These statewide programs are directed to building research infrastructure and collaborations within the state to make Tennessee more successful in competing for research funding.  Dr. Hopkins was formerly Vice President of the UT Research Foundation, which manages the technology commercialization activities stemming from the research performed at UT’s campuses.  From 2003 to 2009, he served as UTRF Director of Technology Transfer and oversaw the development and implementation of technology evaluation and licensing processes in both its Knoxville and Memphis offices. 

Prior to UTRF, Dr. Hopkins served as a faculty member at the UT Space Institute, where he contributed to a number of innovative technologies, leading to 11 US patents, and directly assisted in their commercial success.  He helped develop and license laser-manufacturing technologies that were used in the world’s first no-lube fifth wheel latches for over the road trucks, and has also been involved in more than ten start-up companies, including roles as founder, technology inventor, licensor of intellectual property, and business development support.   Dr. Hopkins serves as a Director and Treasurer of the Tennessee Center for Research and Development, a non-profit company that supports emerging technologies in the Knoxville-Oak Ridge region, and he has served on the Executive Committee of the Innovation Valley Technology Council.

Dr. Hopkins received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from The University of Tennessee and was a NASA Pre-Doctoral Research Associate during his graduate program while supporting both ground and flight experiments for the First International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1) space lab mission.  Dr. Hopkins, is a licensed engineer in Tennessee, has authored or co-authored more than fifty technical papers, and received his MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University.