Vistasp is a Professor in the Departments of Civil Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington where he served as President from 2013 to 2020.  He is passionate about the mission of public research universities of enhancing opportunities for access to higher education to all while substantially increasing the scope of the knowledge enterprise to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Vistasp is focused on enabling an affordable education at the highest levels of academic rigor while simultaneously enabling talent development for immediate success in the workforce or in entrepreneurial activity.  During his tenure as President the university was classified as a Carnegie R-1 “very high research activity” university, designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution, ranked #1 in the nation for Veterans by Military Times, ranked #1 in Texas and #23 in the nation for success/performance of first-generation students by Washington Monthly.  The university was also ranked in the top 20 in the nation for Bachelors and Masters degrees awarded to African American and overall minority students, in addition to being highlighted as one of the nation’s fastest growing universities.