James Coleman

Title: Vice Chancellor for research

Background: As the Vice Chancellor for research at MU, Coleman oversees MU’s $200 million research enterprise, including several interdisciplinary research centers. These include the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center, a world renowned facility and the most powerful academic nuclear research reactor in the country; MU’s $64 million Life Sciences Center; and the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. During the past decade, MU has had the second fastest growth rate in federal research funding among public universities in the Association of American Universities. MU is also experiencing dramatic growth in the patenting and licensing of technologies. Coleman has more than 70 publications focusing on the physiological and ecological responses of plants to natural and human-caused disturbances, as well as the evolutionary ecology of the interactions of plants with insects and diseases.

Education: PhD, physiological ecology, Yale University, 1987

Speaking Topic: Life sciences research and economic development