The Texas A&M AgriLife Research Director’s Awards recognize the achievements of individuals and teams who have put forth outstanding work in support of the agency’s research mission.

Meritorious accomplishments this year are recognized through four award categories: Research Scientist of the Year, Administrative Staff Support, Infrastructure and Information Technology Staff Support and Technical Staff Support. Nominations are open to employees of at least 24 months who hold majority appointments within AgriLife Research.

Research Scientist of the Year Award: Robert Chapkin, Ph.D.

Texas A&M AgriLife Research Professor Robert Chapkin, Ph.D., College Station, has made outstanding contributions to the areas of precision nutrition and stem cell biology, cancer chemoprevention and the development of noninvasive predictive biomarkers. Chapkin carries the title of Distinguished Professor in the Texas A&M University Department of Nutrition. He holds the Allen Endowed Chair in Nutrition & Chronic Disease Prevention, and he is a University Faculty Fellow, a Regents Fellow and an AgriLife Senior Faculty Fellow.

His achievements, in concert with innovation in basic research, have propelled Chapkin to securing unprecedented funding from the National Institutes of Health – National Cancer Institute. He serves as the co-director of a major NCI grant to conduct training on nutrition, biostatistics and bioinformatics. He is also an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow.

Chapkin has published 271 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 27 book chapters and 305 abstracts, and is listed as co-inventor on three patents. His publications have been cited more than 16,000 times, demonstrating his influence in the fields of nutrition, cancer biology and computational biology.

He has mentored 15 master’s of science degree students and 24 doctoral students in biology, biochemistry and biophysics, nutrition, genetics, toxicology, biotechnology and molecular medicine, all in addition to mentoring 26 post-doctoral fellows.

Read more about Chapkin’s studies as featured by Texas A&M AgriLife Research.