UPDATE: The presidential search is now down to four candidates. Two of these six will not interview Wednesday, according to the meeting agenda. Read more here.

The LSU presidential search committee announced the names of the candidates whom they will formally ask to apply for the next president of LSU at the search meeting Thursday.

These candidates will go through interviews at the next meeting Wednesday if they choose to apply. During that meeting, the committee will decide on the finalists to present to the Board of Supervisors who will then vote on the next president from the three finalists.

The candidates for LSU’s next president are:

Julius Fridriksson

Fridriksson is the current vice president of research and professor at the University of South Carolina in the Arnold School of Public Health. He has been at the university for over 24 years. His expertise is in brain health and memory functions.

Matt Lee

Lee is the current interim president for LSU. Lee has been a part of LSU for 21 years serving in positions such as vice president for agriculture and dean of agriculture, interim executive vice president and provost and senior associate vice president of research and economic development.

Robert Robbins

Robbins served as the president of the University of Arizona for seven years before retiring last year. He is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University. He graduated with a bachelor’s in chemistry from Millsaps College and earned his doctorate in medicine from Ole Miss.

Wade Rousse

Rousse has been the sitting president at McNeese University since last July. He previously served as vice president for over a year and executive vice president for over two years at the University. He received his doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also a professor of business and economics at McNeese.

Giovanni Piedimonte

Piedimonte has been a professor of pediatrics, biochemistry and molecular biology at Tulane University’s School of Medicine for over six years. He previously held the position of vice president and institutional officer at Tulane.

The sixth candidate asked that their name and university of employment be confidential, according to SSA Consulting, the firm that assembled and vetted candidates on the search committee’s behalf. If they choose to apply, they must make their name public by Wednesday. The applicant’s current role is senior vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer.