Beth Montelone

Senior Associate Vice President for Research
Professor of Biology

Beth Montelone brings a wealth of research and administrative experience to the Office of the Vice President for Research. She served as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Arts & Sciences from June 2004 through January 2017. She is a professor of biology and was interim research director of the K-State Biosecurity Research Institute and held the Peine Professorship of Biosecurity from 2008-2011.

In her role as Associate Dean for Research, Montelone worked in the general area of research facilitation in conjunction with the Associate Vice President for Research and other Associate Deans for Research. Her responsibilities included research compliance, safety, instructional technology, space, renovations, and infrastructure. She directed the Faculty Enhancement Program, the Undergraduate Research Program, and the Student Research Travel Program. She coordinated with college departments on their expenditures of college fee dollars to support instructional improvements including renovations and equipment purchases.

A K-State faculty member since 1988, Montelone has conducted research in DNA repair and mutagenesis as well as in science outreach. Her work has been funded by several agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. She directed the Pathways to Public Health and One Health Kansas education and outreach projects funded by USDA and the Kansas Health Foundation. She is a member of the graduate faculty in the biology, genetics, and the master of public health programs.

She was a co-principal investigator of a five-year, $3.5 million NSF grant K-State received for the ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant to improve the recruitment, retention, and success of women faculty members in the sciences and engineering. She also was the principal investigator for the NSF grants which helped establish the GROW, Girls Researching Our World, program at K-State, which encourages girls’ interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This program continues under the K-State Office for the Advancement of Women in Science (KAWSE), for which Montelone serves as a senior advisor.

Montelone was principal investigator of the Targeted Excellence project CORES, the Collaborative for Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement in STEM. CORES brought together the leaders of STEM outreach and education programs at K-State to enhance recruitment and tracking of participants in each program and share best practices. She is currently a co-PI of the Kansas Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation project funded by NSF to increase BS attainment in STEM fields by diverse students.

Montelone received the B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, both in New York. She carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Miami School of Medicine and the University of Iowa.

Montelone can be contacted at 785-532-6195 or bethmont@k-state.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @BethMontelone, and follow K-State Research at @KState_RSCAD.