André O. Hudson

André O. Hudson serves as Dean of the College of Science and is a Program Faculty member in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He joined RIT in 2008 after completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Rutgers University and was appointed Dean of the College of Science in April 2023, having served as interim dean since August 2022.

Education:

• B.S. in Biology, Virginia Union University (2000)
• Ph.D. in Plant Biochemistry, Rutgers University (2006)

Dr. Hudson is trained as a biochemist with research focused on amino acid metabolism, structural analyses of enzymes involved in amino acid and bacterial peptidoglycan metabolism, and the isolation, identification and genomic characterization of plant-associated bacteria. His laboratory specifically targets the problem of antibiotic resistance by identifying and characterizing novel antibiotic lead compounds using techniques from biochemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics, genomics, and microbiology. Additional research areas include amino acid metabolism, microbial genomics, and plastic degradation.

His publication record spans multiple disciplines within microbiology and biochemistry, with particular emphasis on bacterial genomics, enzyme structure-function relationships, and antibiotic development. The research shows a clear progression from fundamental biochemical studies toward applied microbiology and antibiotic discovery, with numerous publications on endophytic bacteria, genome sequencing, and metabolic pathways relevant to antibiotic development.

Dr. Hudson has secured approximately $1.3 million in federally funded grants and contracts as PI or CoPI from the NIH, NSF, Bayer Corporation, Sweetwater Energy, and Natcore Technology. He has published 43 peer-reviewed articles and presented more than 28 conference presentations in addition to 29 invited talks. As an educator, he has mentored numerous students in research and has published with many of them. He has served on numerous School, College, and Institute Committees, including chairing the College of Science Faculty Evaluation and Development Committee since 2014 and the RIT Isaac L. Jordan Faculty Pluralism Award Selection Committee since 2013.

The Hudson Lab trains and mentors the next generation of scientists to solve today's problems while preparing them to tackle emerging scientific challenges. The lab is dedicated to addressing antibiotic resistance through biochemical, genomic, and microbiological approaches.