AU PROFESSOR EMERITUS TO LEAD AUBURN RESEARCH PARK

AUBURN - John D. Weete has been named executive director of the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation where he will lead development of the new Auburn Research Park.

A former professor and associate dean in Auburn University’s College of Sciences and Mathematics, Weete currently serves as president and executive director of the West Virginia University Research Corporation. He begins his new duties Sept. 1.

“The Research Park is critical to the life of the university, the city and the state,” said AU President Jay Gogue. “We welcome Dr. Weete back to Auburn.”

At WVU, Weete also served as vice president for research and economic development. He established the university’s office of technology transfer and the business incubator, and he initiated development of the WVU Research Park, scheduled to open next spring.

“Dr. Weete has the background and skills to build the Auburn Research Park into an academic and commercial hub for technological innovation,” said Ralph Zee, foundation president and AU’s acting vice president of research.

“John Weete has broad experience forming partnerships with government and business leaders to advance research and economic development,” said Jimmy Sanford, chair of the ARTF.

While at AU from 1972 to 1998, Weete also served as director of the Leach Science Center. Upon leaving for West Virginia, he was named an AU professor emeritus.

Weete has written two books and more than 150 research publications. He has four U.S. and several international patents. Weete earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from Stephen F. Austin State College and a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Houston. He was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Dermatology at the Baylor College of Medicine.

ARTF is a non-profit organization formed in 2004 to oversee development of the Auburn Research Park. The city of Auburn, state of Alabama and Auburn University are partners on the park project, and its first building is expected to open in September 2008.

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Auburn University is a top-50 ranked public university that has provided instruction, research and outreach to benefit the state and nation for more than 150 years. A more than $4 billion economic impact on the state - including more than $2.4 billion in providing jobs and people resources - demonstrates AU's commitment to this mission. AU has more than 214,000 alumni, and provides 130 degree options to nearly 23,500 graduate and undergraduate students.

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