Sept. 16, 2025
Contact: Janese Heavin, heavinj@missouri.edu
The University of Missouri Board of Curators recently named 10 University of Missouri faculty members Curators’ Distinguished Professors and Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professors.
The designation is the highest and most prestigious academic rank the Board of Curators awards. It is awarded to a select few outstanding scholars with established reputations. This year’s recipients are:
- Curators’ Distinguished Professor Donald Burke-Agüero, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology in the School of Medicine and a principal investigator at Bond Life Sciences Center with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Biochemistry
- Curators’ Distinguished Professor Sheila Grant, a professor of biological and biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering
- Curators’ Distinguished Professor Scott H. Holan, a professor of statistics in the College of Arts and Science
- Curators’ Distinguished Professor Raghuraman Kannan, a professor of radiology in the School of Medicine with a joint appointment in the College of Engineering
- R. Scott Rector, a professor of nutrition and exercise physiology in the School of Medicine with a joint appointment in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, director of the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building and associate dean for basic sciences in the School of Medicine
- Curators’ Distinguished Professor John “Jack” Tanner, a professor of biochemistry with joint appointments in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and the School of Medicine
- Curators’ Distinguished Professor Wesley Warren, a professor of genomics in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and a principal investigator at Bond Life Sciences Center
- Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor Anne Alexander, a teaching professor and director of legal analysis, research and communication in the School of Law
- Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor Stephen Ball, a professor of physical therapy in the College of Health Sciences and state fitness specialist for MU Extension and Engagement
- Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor Brian A. Silvey, a professor of music education, director of bands and interim director of the School of Music in the College of Arts and Science
Curators’ Distinguished Professors
Donald Burke-Agüero
Since joining the University of Missouri in 2005, Burke-Agüero has built an internationally recognized research program that bridges molecular microbiology, immunology and astrobiology. His pioneering work with aptamers and catalytic RNAs has not only advanced fundamental science but also opened doors to innovative therapeutic possibilities. Backed by more than $21 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and NASA — including a flagship NASA grant that launched a multi-institutional consortium in 2021 — his lab continues to push the frontiers of RNA biology.
Burke-Agüero was recently elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Sheila Grant
Grant has spent more than two decades at Mizzou pushing the boundaries of biomedical engineering through cutting-edge materials design. A pioneer in nano- and microstructured materials design, she has secured major research support from NSF, NIH, the U.S. Army, USDA and industry partners. Most recently, she’s leading a $6.3 million NSF Accelerating Research Translation grant that launched the Mizzou TecHub, helping bring university innovations to market. Grant also directs a $1.87 million U.S. Army project with Arizona State University to harness artificial intelligence for advanced materials discovery.
Grant is a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors.
Scott H. Holan
Holan is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in spatio-temporal statistics and data confidentiality, particularly in applications to official survey data. His methods have become standard practice at the U.S. Census Bureau, transforming how uncertain data across geography and time are modeled while protecting privacy. Continuously supported by major federal funding agencies, including nearly $4 million from the NSF, his research is advancing statistical approaches that have reshaped the field. He currently serves as co-editor-in-chief of the prestigious journal of the International Statistical Institute (ISI).
Holan’s many honors include election as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the International Statistical Institute and the AAAS.
Raghuraman Kannan
Kannan directs Mizzou’s Cancer Nanotechnology Lab, where his research targets some of the most pressing challenges in oncology: drug resistance, immune evasion and effective therapeutic delivery. His team has developed novel RNAi-based therapeutics, immunotherapy strategies and self-assembled multilayered systems that show superior efficacy in reversing resistance in preclinical cancer models. With more than $10 million in external funding — including NCI/NIH R01 grants and a $6.4 million industry partnership — his translational research spans collaborations with multiple universities.
He has published in high-impact journals including Advanced Materials and ACS Nano. The technologies developed in his laboratory have been patented.
R. Scott Rector
Rector leads internationally recognized research on obesity, metabolism and steatotic liver disease. His translational program — spanning preclinical bench studies to clinical trials — has been continuously supported by grants from the NIH, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and industry partners. His program is currently funded from multiple NIH R01s and VA Merit and VA Research Career Scientist Awards.
Rector directs the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building and serves as associate dean for basic sciences and research infrastructure in the School of Medicine.
He is a Fellow of both The Obesity Society and the American College of Sports Medicine, underscoring his impact at the national level.
John “Jack” Tanner
Tanner is a structural biologist with a background in theoretical physical chemistry and computational biology. His research advances both fundamental enzymology and translational science using a variety of structural and computational approaches including X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. Interests of his lab include developing structure-function paradigms for proline metabolic enzymes and structure-based drug design targeting enzymes involved in the metabolism of cancer cells. Currently supported by two NIH grants and an NSF award, his research has produced over 180 peer-reviewed publications and over 200 structure depositions to the Protein Data Bank.
Tanner has received numerous awards including the William Evans Fellowship at the University of Otago, New Zealand.
Wesley Warren
Warren is a global leader in comparative genomics whose work connects genetic blueprints to traits in health and disease. With more than two decades of experience, he has advanced genome assembly, population-level genetics and bioinformatics, including single-cell sequencing. His research has broad applications across biological systems, from human health to animal models, and he has secured nearly $5 million in external funding since joining Mizzou. Currently, Warren leads a multidisciplinary NIH grant developing a novel fish model to study disease mechanisms, underscoring his role in driving genomic discovery at the intersection of medicine and agriculture.
Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professors
Anne Alexander
Alexander is known for her innovative approach to teaching and her deep commitment to student learning. Since joining Mizzou in 2012, she has taught courses in education law and in the core skills of research, analysis and communication, consistently earning exceptional peer evaluations and student ratings that highlight her clarity, rigor and care as an educator.
Her teaching excellence has been widely recognized. In addition to teaching awards from Mizzou, she has received the Earnest L. Boyer International Award for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology and an Innovation Award from the International Conference on College Teaching and Learning, underscoring her impact as a leader in legal education.
Stephen Ball
As a leader in extension education, Ball has developed evidence-based programs like Stay Strong Stay Healthy for older adults, Jump Into Action for youth and the international recognized MyActivity Pyramid for Kids, which together have reached hundreds of thousands of participants and improved health outcomes across Missouri and beyond. In the classroom, he taught Introduction to Exercise and Fitness to more than 12,000 students over 15 years, expanding enrollment more than tenfold, and founded the accredited Fitness Programming and Management program, the only dual-modality strength and conditioning program in the country.
Nationally, Ball has served on the USDA’s Nutrition and Health Committee. His contributions have been recognized with multiple honors, including the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence and the Board on Human Sciences’ National Outstanding Engagement Award.
Brian A. Silvey
Silvey is widely recognized for his work in developing conductor expertise and preparing future music educators. Since joining the faculty in 2009, he has trained hundreds of undergraduates to become certified music teachers and mentored graduate students pursuing academic careers. Under his leadership, Mizzou concert band ensembles have earned peer-reviewed invitations to perform at state, regional and national conferences, while his conducting skills have brought him invitations to work with more than 50 honor bands nationwide.
Recognized with Mizzou’s William T. Kemper Award for Teaching Excellence, Silvey was named a 2025 Fulbright U.S. Scholar, a prestigious honor that took him to the University of Melbourne to guest teach, conduct and advance research in music education. He also serves on the executive committee of the National Association for Music Education.
