DRI Vice President for Research Jim Coleman appointed vice provost for research at University of Missouri-Columbia
Dr. Jim Coleman, vice president for research and business development of the Desert Research
Institute (DRI) in Nevada, has been named
vice provost for research at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU). Coleman will begin serving as
vice provost this spring.
DRI President Stephen G. Wells said Coleman has helped direct a major enhancement of DRI's research
capabilities through the strategic
recruitment of young talent and the development of critical new research infrastructure that have
dramatically improved the Institute's
competitiveness in the national scientific community.
"Jim' guidance has contributed to raising DRI's success rate on proposals the National Science
Foundation, considered the most critical and
prestigious source of research funding in America, to a level that exceeds the success rates of the
top research universities in the country,"
Wells said. "He will be deeply missed at DRI, as a friend and close colleague to all of us."
MU Provost Brady Deaton said Coleman will bring a very innovative and successful record of
accomplishments to this position.
“His background and experience equip him to provide the level of leadership we are looking for on
this campus. I am confident that research
will continue to grow in quantity and quality under his leadership. Dr. Coleman understands that
faculty members have multiple
responsibilities, and he knows from experience the level of commitment that research requires of
faculty and the institution.”
Coleman received a bachelor’s degree in forestry from the University of Maine-Orono, two master’s
degrees in science and philosophy, and
a doctoral degree in forestry and environmental studies, all from Yale University. He also completed
postdoctoral training at Stanford and
Harvard universities. In addition to his duties at the Desert Research Institute, Coleman served as
project director for Nevada’s National
Science Foundation Experimental Program to stimulate competitive research – a multimillion-dollar
program designed to build a statewide
research infrastructure. He also served as professor of biology at Syracuse University, where he
received the Wasserstrom Prize for
Outstanding Graduate Education, and as a program officer at the National Science Foundation where he
was responsible for managing $10
million in life sciences grants.
Previously, Coleman served as president of the Physiological Ecology Section of the Ecological
Society of America and as a member of the
Governing Advisory Board of the Ecological Society of America. He also is a member of the editorial
board for the International Journal of
Plant Sciences and is listed in Who’s Who in America and International Who’s Who. Coleman is a
reviewer for several ecological journals
and has published more than 65 articles, which have appeared in Nature, the Canadian Journal of
Botany and the Journal of Plant
Physiology.
A nonprofit, statewide division of the University and Community College System of Nevada, DRI
pursues a full-time program of basic and
applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale. Nearly 500 full- and
part-time scientists, technicians, and support
staff conduct some 150 research projects at DRI annually. More than 85 percent of DRI's annual $33
million operating budget consists of
research grants and contracts obtained by its scientists. The balance is received from the state of
Nevada for administrative costs.