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Robert Gilbert
Dean for Research and Executive Director for Academic Affairs
Director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
McCarty Hall D, Suite G040
Background
Since 2019, Dr. Robert Gilbert has served as dean for research, executive director of academic affairs, and director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). He oversees the UF/IFAS research mission and administration, an enterprise with over $200 million in annual research expenditures that reflects its capacity and innovation.
Dr. Gilbert joined the agronomy faculty at the UF/IFAS Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade, Florida, in 2000. He served as the center's director from 2011 to 2014, when he was appointed chair of the UF Department of Agronomy in Gainesville. He has also served as UF/IFAS interim senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources.
His past research experience has focused on breeding sugarcane varieties and working with stakeholders to improve one of South Florida’s signature crops. In service to the profession, Dr. Gilbert has functioned in numerous roles within the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists and the Florida division of the American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists. He has been honored with a USDA/ARS Sustained Effort Technology Transfer Award, a UF/IFAS International Achievement Award, and several Denver T. Loupe Best Presentation Awards from the American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists.