Division Vice Chair

Steven P. Briggs (Cell & Developmental Biology)

Steven P. Briggs, Distinguished Professor, Department of Cell & Developmental Biology (CDB). Professor Briggs was appointed as Professor in CDB and promoted to Distinguished Professor. He served as Vice Chair and Chair of CDB and as Associate Dean in the School of Biological Sciences. Professor Briggs also served as Interim Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (School of Physical Sciences), which he led through receivership and restructuring. Professor Briggs’ research focus is on innate immunity in plants and on heterosis/inbreeding depression. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences USA; Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Professor Briggs’ campus-wide service includes: UC San Diego Foundation Board of Trustees; Chair, Committee on Academic Personnel; Chair, Faculty Research Lecture Committee; Co-Chair, Holistic Teaching Evaluation Implementation Committee; UC Academic Senate’s Committee on Academic Personnel (UCAP); Committee on Committees; Senate Council; Senate Administration Council; Council of Innovation Leadership; Academic Senate Summer General Campus Task Force on Budget Planning Guidance; Hellman Fellowship Committee; Director, Moore Foundation Research Communications Program; Steering Committee, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Training Program; Steering Committee, Genetics Training Program. External service includes: Chair, Advisory Board, BP Energy Biosciences Institute, Berkeley CA; Chair, Board of Advisors, Plant Sciences Institute, Iowa State University; Co-chair, US-EC Taskforce Working Group on Plant Biotechnology; Co-Chair, Technical Advisory Committee of the DOE/USDA Biomass Research and Development Board; Steering Committee, United States Trade and Development Agency; Scientific Advisory Committee, US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute; Scientific Advisory Board and Program Committee, Keystone Symposia; Scientific Advisory Board, Harnessing Plants Initiative, Salk Institute for Biological Sciences; Committee of Visitors, Review of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, NSF; Board of Directors, National Center for Genome Resources.

Prior to joining UC San Diego, Professor Briggs worked as Research Director at Pioneer/DuPont, Executive Vice President for Research at Diversa; President/CEO at Novartis Agricultural Discovery Institute. He co-founded two companies: Sapphire Energy (algae biofuels); and JadeBio (mass spectrometry-based proteomics contract research organization).