Steven E. Taylor, PhD, PE, Fellow ASABE, serves as Auburn University’s senior vice president for research and economic development and as president of the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation. In this role, he provides leadership to various research and economic development units, including sponsored programs, proposal services and faculty support, contracts and grants accounting, research compliance, the university veterinarian, research security compliance, electronic research administration, the IP exchange, external engagement and support and university-based start-ups.

Taylor previously served as interim dean of Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, as the College of Engineering’s associate dean for research, head of the Department of Biosystems Engineering — where he is a tenured professor — and as director of the Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts.

As the Ginn College of Engineering’s associate dean for research, Taylor led significant growth in the college’s annual external funding that saw nearly $300 million in new research contracts awarded during the past five years. During this period, he facilitated the creation of the Auburn University Applied Research Institute and Auburn University Transportation Research Institute and he helped secure funding for several new research facilities such as Auburn’s Advanced Structural Engineering Laboratory. Additionally, he led the efforts to acquire and operationalize the university’s Research and Innovation Campus in Huntsville’s Cummings Research Park.

Taylor holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural engineering from the University of Florida and a doctorate in the same discipline from Texas A&M.