Fadamiro joins Texas A&M AgriLife Research as chief scientific officer
Auburn University leader to replace David Ragsdale, who is retiring
Henry Fadamiro, Ph.D., has been named associate director and chief scientific officer for Texas A&M AgriLife Research, and as associate dean for the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Fadamiro’s start date is July 1.
Fadamiro will take the place of David Ragsdale, Ph.D., associate director and chief scientific officer for AgriLife Research, who will retire on Aug. 31.
“I am very excited to join the Texas A&M community. I look forward to working collaboratively with faculty, staff, students, commodity boards and other stakeholders to advance the mission of Texas A&M AgriLife Research and build on the status of Texas A&M University as a top-tier land-grant institution,” Fadamiro said. “It is a great honor to be selected for this important role.”
“Dr. Fadamiro has great depth and breadth of knowledge of agriculture, with a career that spans three land-grant universities,” said Patrick J. Stover, Ph.D., vice chancellor of Texas A&M AgriLife, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research. “His extensive experience in agriculture research administration, international program management and extension service will be invaluable assets in advancing the missions of AgriLife Research, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and AgriLife as a whole.”
Fadamiro’s previous leadership roles in research, extension, education
Fadamiro is a distinguished academic and administrator. Since 2017, he has served as associate dean for research for the Auburn University College of Agriculture and as associate director of Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, the state’s equivalent of AgriLife Research. In these roles, he advanced faculty and student research and initiated several professional development programs. Under his direction, the college’s extramural awards increased by almost 90%.
Previously, Fadamiro served in other leadership roles at Auburn University, including integrated pest management coordinator for Alabama. As assistant dean and director of global programs for Auburn’s College of Agriculture, he led efforts to establish partnerships with academic institutions in Africa, Asia, Central/South America and Europe. Since 2003, he has also been a faculty member in Auburn’s Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology.
Before joining Auburn University, Fadamiro had served as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Minnesota and at Iowa State University, and as research scientist at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Fadamiro earned his doctorate in entomology and pest management from the University of Oxford in England in 1995. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Federal University of Technology in Akure, Nigeria.
Research interests
Like his immediate predecessor at AgriLife Research — Ragsdale — Fadamiro is an entomologist. Specifically, Fadamiro’s basic research interests include insect chemical ecology, neuroethology and mechanisms of plant-insect and tritrophic interactions. His applied research focuses on development and implementation of integrated pest management, IPM, strategies.
Fadamiro’s work has resulted in over 125 refereed journal publications, several IPM manuals and extension publications, more than 100 presentations and many patents. He has trained over 30 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.
Fadamiro has garnered more than $20 million in extramural funding as a principal investigator or co-principal investigator from sources including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency as well as commodity boards, foundations and private industries.
Awards and honors
Fadamiro is a Rhodes Scholar, an inductee into the National Academy of Inventors and a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. In 2011, he was also named Alumni Professor at Auburn University. Among his other awards and honors is the Award for Excellence in IPM from the Entomological Society of America – Southeastern Branch.
Fadamiro belongs to many professional organizations. He currently serves as chair of the Diversity Catalyst Committee of the national Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy, ESCOP. He is also a fellow of two leadership programs affiliated with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the LEAD21 program and the Food Systems Leadership Institute.
