Advisory Board

The BioDiscovery Institute's Board of Advisors comprises industry leaders and internationally-recognized scholars. The institute works closely with its advisors for guidance in pursuit of research excellence, national funding and industry partnership opportunities. The board meets meet with the institute team on an annual basis, and interacts with individual institute members where possible. Board members, who serve three-year terms, may also participate in future public forums.

Board of Advisors members are:

    • Gregg T. Beckham, Senior research fellow, -Chemical engineering; National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado
    • Pete Bowerman, Global Trait Business Partner Manager - Sunflower, Cereals, Lentils; BASF Corporation
    • Maud Hinchee, Chief Scientific Officer; Agricen Sciences
    • Sylesh Venkataraman, Research Director; Lipotech USA (division of Lubrizol)
    • David Coorts, Natural Plant Protection, Head, NAM-UPL NA, Inc
    • Marilyn Wiley, Dean, College of Business; University of North Texas
    • Maureen McCann, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
    • John Ryals, Founder, Chairman Emeritus and Board Member, Metabolon, Inc.

Former Board Members:

    • Narendra Dahotre (2022), Center for Agile & Adaptive Additive Manufacturing
    • Toni Kutchan (2022), Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
    • Rob Last (2023), Barnett Rosenberg Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Plant Biology; Michigan State University - East Lansing
    • Jon McCarry, Executive Director (2023), Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation; University of North Texas
    • LeGrande Slaughter (2023), Professor, Chair Department of Chemistry; University of North Texas
    • Vijay Vaidyanathan (2023), Professor and Founding Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering; University of North Texas
    • Ken Keegstra (2023), Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Michigan State University - East Lansing. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences