Department

RESEARCH SECURITY OFFICE (UA-RSO-IUBLA)

Department Information

The Research Security Office (RSO) was created by Indiana University to address the security risks posed to the research environment at Indiana University and to assist researchers with efforts to protect themselves, their research data and methodologies, publication rights, and intellectual property.

The primary mission of RSO is to assure research security at IU. Through its comprehensive research security program, RSO protects IU and its researchers from those who wish to exploit IU's open and inclusive academic environment. RSO operates a research security program in response to federal regulations and sponsor requirements that safeguards the IU research enterprise and mitigates threats to the IU research environment by protecting against:

• Misappropriation of research and development
• Violations of research integrity
• Foreign government interference

Job Summary

Department-Specific Responsibilities

• Serves as a central operational and strategic role within the university's Research Security Office, responsible for building and sustaining the infrastructure that enables compliant, efficient, and scalable program delivery.
• Leads the development, standardization, and governance of program documentation, including SOPs, training materials, and a comprehensive Research Security and Export Control Manual, ensuring alignment with evolving regulatory requirements and institutional practices.
• Plays a key role in advancing and strengthening university-wide due diligence processes, standardizing approaches across units and ensuring alignment with research security, export control, and institutional requirements to support effective risk management and compliance.
• Responsible for developing, standardizing, and maintaining comprehensive program documentation, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and training materials.
• Creates, formalizes, and continuously updates documentation related to research security, export control, and international engagement and partnership due diligence processes, including investigations, screenings, technology control plans, and compliance workflows.
• Lead the development of a comprehensive Research Security and Export Control Manual, ensuring all materials reflect current regulatory requirements, incorporate ongoing process improvements, and align with operational practices.
• Establishes and maintains version control and documentation governance practices grounded in knowledge management principles to support consistency, accessibility, and audit readiness.
• Monitors and tracks strategic priorities, initiatives, and overall program performance by leveraging systems to measure progress on key efforts, such as Research Security Program implementation, policy rollouts, and University-wide due diligence enhancements.
• Leads efforts to strengthen and standardize due diligence processes across the University, applying regulatory knowledge to ensure alignment with research security, export control, and institutional requirements.
• Identifies and recommends process improvements that support strategic planning and advance overall program maturity.
• Coordinates cross-functional workflows and support process optimization across research security, export control, and international partnerships functions.
• Leads the mapping, documentation, and continuous quality improvement of workflows, while ensuring alignment between documented procedures and day-to-day operations.
• Facilitates communication across stakeholders, supports the implementation of new or revised processes, and applies knowledge management and strategic planning approaches, along with regulatory analysis, to enhance scalability, consistency, and long-term sustainability of program operations.
• Participates in ongoing professional development and maintain current knowledge of regulatory updates in research security and export control to ensure continued compliance and program effectiveness.

General Responsibilities

• Creates and manages processes for reviewing and advising administrative units of the university on contractual terms relating to export controls or controls on technology.
• Creates and manages processes related to faculty travel and transactions to ensure compliance with applicable laws.
• Creates and manages processes related to license applications to U.S. Department of Treasury, Department of Commerce, or Department of State regarding physical or deemed exports.
• Develops, monitors, and audits complex technology control plans to protect controlled technologies from unauthorized access by foreign persons.
• Leads the development, standardization, and governance of institutional SOPs, training materials, and a comprehensive Research Security and Export Control Manual to ensure version control and audit readiness.
• Standardizes university-wide due diligence and international partnership screening processes; maps and optimizes cross-functional workflows to improve program scalability and strategic risk management.