The University of Minnesota has picked its next vice president for research -- Brian Herman, of the University of Texas.

Herman, a cellular and structural biology professor, is special assistant to the president at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the chancellor's health fellow in collaboration for the UT System.

The University of Minnesota called him "an accomplished scientist, researcher, and academic administrator." Read his curriculum vitae here.

As vice president, Herman will oversee research on the U's five campuses, a portfolio that includes $786 million in research and development spending.

He starts Jan. 1, pending approval by the Board of Regents.

He beat out two other finalists for the post: Meredith Hay, a physiology professor at the University of Arizona, where she was provost from 2008 to 2011, and Mark Banaszak Holl, a chemistry professor at the University of Michigan and former associate vice president for research.

The job is now held by Tim Mulcahy, who joined the U in 2005 and will retire in December.

In a recent Business story about Mulcahy's years at the university, reporter Thomas Lee wrote: