Gregory Llacer

Gregory Llacer is the founding director of the Harvard College Office of Undergraduate Research & Fellowships (URAF). Greg also has been the director of the Harvard College Program for Research in Science & Engineering (PRISE) since its inception in 2005.

In addition to his Harvard responsibilities, Greg is editorial chair of the national Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Journal and director of the Global Program Office for Amgen Scholars, a consortium of 24 international undergraduate summer research programs focused on biotechnology.

Prior to his appointment as URAF Director, Greg served in several administrative roles at Harvard, including inaugural Institutional Director of Postdoctoral Affairs and interim Chief of Staff for the Vice Provost of Research (in the Office of the President and Provost) as well as coordinator of Herchel Smith-Harvard Undergraduate Science Research Program and the Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Postgraduate Fellowship (in the College). 

Before arriving at Harvard in 2004, he managed educational initiatives and academic enrichment programs for the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology (HST). Greg spent the first 16 years of his administrative career in the academic and research planning unit of the Office of Graduate Studies & Research at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he was senior research policy analyst for the vice chancellor of research. 

Greg received an AB degree from San Diego State University (SDSU) in liberal studies with an emphasis on education and conducted postgraduate study at UCSD and SDSU focused on policy studies in language and cross-cultural education. In January 2023 he was named recipient of the Winston Churchill Foundation Advisor Award.