The Texas A&M University System

As Chief Research Officer for The Texas A&M University System, Dr. Jeffrey R. Seemann works in close collaboration with the A&M System’s 11 universities, seven state agencies, and health science center to facilitate the growth of research of all system members. As the leader of the A&M System Office of Research, he is responsible for providing services and support to all 19 system members in areas including research development, research commercialization, research compliance, research administration (e.g., sponsored grants and contracts management), and federal relations. Dr. Seemann also serves as Vice President for Research and is a professor in the Departments of Biology and Biochemistry/Biophysics at Texas A&M University.

Dr. Seemann is an internationally recognized plant biologist with research interests in the ecology, physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology of photosynthesis and global change. Prior to his arrival at Texas A&M, Dr. Seemann served a very successful tenure as Dean of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences and Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Rhode Island, where he also served as Director of the Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station and Rhode Island Cooperative Extension. In addition, Dr. Seemann was appointed by the Governor to co-chair the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council and to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Slater Technology Fund, the state’s venture capital organization. Prior to that, he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry in the School of Medicine and College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, Reno.

In the course of his personal research career, Dr. Seemann has been awarded more than $24 million in research funding from state and federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has published more than 75 peer-reviewed publications in major journals, including Nature and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), and is listed by Current Contents as one of the most highly cited researchers in the world in the area of plant and animal sciences. 

 Dr. Seemann received his bachelor’s degree with honors from Oberlin College with a major in biology, and his doctoral degree from Stanford University in biological sciences.