Today, the University of Asheville announced that Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Ryan Steed Ph.D. was selected as a new Heny Dreyfus Teacher Scholar for 2026 by the Camille * Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Each year, the Foundation picks eight teacher-scholars for a national pool of faculty within the first 12 years of their academic careers. The award includes a unrestricted $75,000 research grant to further the scholar’s work with students.
“Ryan is the ideal teacher-scholar,” said Sally Wasileski, Ph.D., dean of UNC Asheville’s College of Natural and Human Sciences and former chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “He took biochemistry from a nascent idea to one of our greatest strengths and points of pride, and he did it while mentoring students in research that matters, from the fundamental science of how bacteria make energy to the search for new antibiotics. Our students are better scientists because of him, and this national recognition is richly deserved.”
Steed joined UNCA in 2016 as the only biochemist, and has worked to develop the institutions biochemist curriculum. His work provided for more course, new teaching and research collaborations among faulty, and culminates next fall with the launch of a new major in Biochemistry.
Steed’s research examines the mechanism and inhibition of bacterial energy metabolism, how bacteria convert nutrients into emerge that powers their growth, and in some cases, cause disease.
