Associate Vice President for Corporate Engagement, Research Associate Professor, Biology

(414) 288-6925
carmela.ruffolo@marquette.edu

Dr. Carmel Ruffolo received a Bachelors of Science with honors and Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Northwestern University. Her research interests included bacterial molecular pathogenesis, gram negative outer membrane protein function and immunogenicity, and infectious diseases of the Pasteurellaceae, specifically animal and human dental diseases.

Before joining the Office of Economic Engagement at Marquette University, Dr. Ruffolo dedicated 17 years at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Southeastern Wisconsin as an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences. At Parkside, she was a passionate advocate for collaboration, becoming the founding director of the Center for Health Studies and First Year Experience program, and helped to create the Applied Health program. Dr. Ruffolo also developed Celebrazione Italiana, a fundraising event to support the Italian Exchange program, and established the exchange agreement with the University of Western Sydney in Australia. She later moved to Marquette University as the Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation before stepping into her current role of Associate Vice President for Corporate Engagement.

As the Associate Vice President for Corporate Engagement, Dr. Ruffolo provides critical leadership with the university’s engagement with corporations and external stakeholders. She also oversees the institution’s corporate sponsored research and technology transfer activities that aim to advance the university’s mission. In order to create mutually beneficial relationships with Marquette’s corporate partners, Dr. Ruffolo works to create cross-functional teams that can leverage and align our assets and resources with the needs and resources of corporations.