TJ Augustine

Vice Chancellor for Innovation

University of Illinois Chicago

IIN Council

TJ Augustine is the Vice Chancellor for Innovation for the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), where he coordinates the technology commercialization and entrepreneurship activities that are part of UIC’s innovation ecosystem, and a professor in the Department of Chemistry. The units reporting to Dr. Augustine include ACCC, Extended Campus, and a new office focused on corporate relationships.

Previously, Augustine served as Associate Vice President for Economic Development and Innovation for the University of Illinois System where he was responsible for providing strategic leadership in identifying potential public-private partnerships and enhancing connections among internal and external stakeholders to foster innovation and technology commercialization. Prior to returning to the University of Illinois, he served as a Technology-to-Market Advisor and Acting Deputy Director for Commercialization at the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) where he helped prepare breakthrough energy technologies for transition from the lab to the marketplace. While at ARPA-E, he helped craft the agency’s commercialization strategy, particularly focusing on a number of programs targeting biological production of transportation fuels.

Augustine also served as Special Assistant to Secretaries Steven Chu and Ernest Moniz at the Department of Energy, where he acted as the Secretary’s principal liaison to senior staff in the areas that included energy technology development, environmental management, and national security. Prior to the Department of Energy, he worked as an OSA/SPIE/AAAS Science and Technology Fellow in the office of Senator Richard Durbin, developing legislative strategies and serving as an advisor for energy and environmental policies.

Augustine is a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Emerging Leaders program. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and a master’s degree in public policy and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University.