Neal Stewart, professor of plant sciences, holds the Ivan Racheff Chair of Excellence in plant molecular genetics. He serves as co-director of the Center for Agricultural Synthetic Biology, which he co-founded in 2018. After taking a PhD at Virginia Tech, he joined Wayne Parrott's lab at the University of Georgia as a postdoc from 1993-1995, after which he moved to UNC-Greensboro where he was an assistant-, then associate professor from 1995-2002 in biology. In 2002, Stewart assumed the Racheff Chair with an appointment of professor. The Stewart Lab’s research spans plant biotechnology, synthetic biology, genomics, and ecology.

Dr. Stewart has authored or co-authored over 350 journal articles, many book chapters and 12 books. He is co-editor in chief for Plant Cell Reports and is an associate editor with the Plant Biotechnology Journal. Dr. Stewart was elected as an AAAS Fellow in 2015, an SIVB fellow in 2019, and from 2014-2016 served on the National Academies committee responsible for publishing "Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects" in 2016.

His research has been supported by various granting agencies in the DOE, USDA, NSF, DARPA, and industry sources. Of the approximately $70 M awarded over the past 25 years in grants and contracts, of which 5% has had industry ties.

Dr. Stewart teaches courses in biotechnology and research ethics. He has mentored over 200 trainees (graduate students, postdocs, and technical staff) over his career; most of whom are still in science. He has given scientific and lay-presentations around the US and in 16 countries.

His hobbies include those in the bioenergy (firewood) and transportation (old vehicles) sectors and boating and swimming in the Tennessee River. Neal Stewart is also a singer-songwriter whose songs can be found here: http://www.reverbnation.com/seenealstewart