Dr. Steve Taylor serves as Auburn University’s senior vice president for research and economic development, leading a research enterprise that reached $431 million in expenditures in fiscal year 2025. He oversees initiatives that advance resilient communities, intelligent systems and national security while translating research into real-world impact. Taylor also serves as president of the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation, which operates Auburn Research Park and supports innovation, entrepreneurship and industry partnerships. A faculty member since 1989, he previously served as biosystems engineering department head, associate dean for research and interim dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
Biography
Steve Taylor began serving as Auburn University’s senior vice president for research and economic development in 2023.
Dr. Taylor leads Auburn’s robust research arm focused on advancing solutions that build resilient and healthy communities, develop intelligent systems, and strengthen national security. Under his leadership, Auburn’s research enterprise reached $431 million in expenditures in fiscal year 2025, translating discovery into practical impact.
He also serves as president of the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation, which operates the 240+ acre Auburn Research Park adjacent to campus. The foundation advances applied research into commercial ventures and industry partnerships while fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem that supports startups, strengthens existing businesses, and drives workforce and process innovation.
Taylor began teaching and doing research at Auburn in 1989, served as the biosystems engineering department head from 2003-16, and as associate dean for research in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering from 2016-22.
As associate dean for research, Taylor led the college’s research enterprise through an unprecedented period of growth in external funding and in new research infrastructure. He played a leading role in efforts to fund and construct the college’s Advanced Structural Engineering Laboratory; to acquire property in Huntsville to create the Auburn University Research and Innovation Campus; and he oversaw the creation of the Auburn University Transportation Research Institute, the National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence and the Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems.
In 2022, he was appointed interim dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and continued to strengthen Auburn’s programs in engineering education and research. In this role, he led the operationalization of the Research and Innovation Campus in the Huntsville/Redstone Arsenal community, and he spearheaded the creation of the Auburn University Applied Research Institute.
Taylor holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural engineering from the University of Florida and a doctorate in the same discipline from Texas A&M. His personal research focused on engineering for the forest products industry and improved utilization of forest biomass for energy feedstocks, as well as for structural products.
He and his wife have two grown children and enjoy spending time on their family farms in Alabama and Kentucky.
