Robert P. Elde, Ph.D. 

Science Director of the Board. Bob is the former Dean of the University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences. Retired in 2014, he was also the J. B. Johnston Land Grant Professor of Neuroscience.  During his tenure as dean, the UM undergraduate programs in biology rose to become among the best in the nation.  His numerous leadership roles in the scientific community include serving as founding chair of UMN’s Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment; founding University Enterprise Laboratories, a non-profit bioscience incubator; and serving as the Treasurer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Science Museum of Minnesota. Over his career, he was an author or co-author of more than 240 scientific publications in cellular and molecular neuroscience research.