Bethany Jenkins is the vice president for research and innovation at the University of Oregon. Her role overseeing scholarship, research, and innovation at the UO includes managing a research portfolio of $153 million in extramural funding (FY 2025-26). She leads a team stewarding research development, sponsored projects, research integrity, and intellectual property and innovation.
Before joining the UO in this role (she completed her PhD here), Jenkins served as the vice president for research and economic development (VPRED) and professor of cell and molecular biology and oceanography at the University of Rhode Island (URI). In her role as URI’s VPRED, she stewarded a research portfolio of $165 million in annual sponsored awards and helped URI achieve Carnegie R1 status in 2025. She co-chaired the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council and advised state leadership on ways to increase innovation, research, and development. She is also an executive committee member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Council on Research.
Jenkins is a marine microbiologist who investigates the interplay between ocean chemistry and physiological response in phytoplankton and bacteria using omic methodologies. As a principal investigator (PI) and co-PI, she has supported her own work and collaborative research with more than $32 million in external funding. She is an active member and past chair of national steering committees for US carbon cycle science that advise the National Science Foundation and NASA. Jenkins was the recipient of the 2018 URI Advanced Career Faculty Research Award in life sciences, physical science, and engineering. She holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Oregon (affiliated with the Institute of Molecular Biology) and earned a BA from Mount Holyoke College.