The University will call on a group of experts to lay out plans for buoying GW’s rising research profile, the Office of the Vice President for Research announced today.

A 13-person Research Advisory Board, tasked with helping GW attract top researchers and students, will hold its first meeting May 15. The group will meet twice a year, weighing in on the path the University will take in its research ventures.

The group will include experts from inside the University, like professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and Nobel laureate Ferid Murad, and outside the University, like Alan Leshner, executive publisher of the journal “Science” and CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Officials from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Northern Virginia Technology Council and the GW Alumni Association will also sit on the board, which will also include several deans.

“I’m delighted that such a broad range of experts agreed to serve on GW’s Research Advisory Board,” Vice President for Research Leo Chalupa said in a news release. “I look forward to hearing their insights and suggestions for moving GW forward in our quest to become a top-tier research institute.”

The board will look to continue momentum for University’s progress on research clout after GW jumped into the National Science Foundation’s top 100 research rankings in early April, coming in as the No. 99 school for research and development spending for fiscal year 2010.