Dennis R. Dean

Joining the faculty at Virginia Tech in 1985, Dean has been involved in both undergraduate and graduate instruction, offering courses in general microbiology, gene regulation, and laboratory applications. His teaching and service has extended outside the university with participation in the development and oversight of the Fralin outreach program, which serves thousands of high school students each year. He has been actively and continuously engaged in professional service throughout his career, having served on numerous peer-review and site-visit panels and chaired and organized international conferences, including two Gordon Research Conferences. Dean also served as acting Director of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, with primary responsibility for oversight of laboratory design and financial management between 2008-2009.
Dean’s research is recognized worldwide. He has published more than 160 articles and he currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and has recently served on the publications board for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He has received extramural funding to support his research since 1975, including awards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Office of Naval Research. Dean received his bachelor’s degree from Wabash College and was a pre-doctoral National Institutes Trainee at Purdue University where he earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology. He was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin and began his independent scientific career at the Kettering laboratory.

Dean is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a University Distinguished Professor, and Stroobants Professor of Biotechnology. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at Purdue University and his undergraduate degree from Wabash College.