David Vanden Bout

David Vanden Bout earned a B.S. in chemistry from Duke University in 1990, where he conducted undergraduate research with Richard MacPhail. He received a Ph.D. in chemical physics from The University of Texas at Austin in 1995 under the supervision of Mark Berg and went on to complete an National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship in Paul Barbara's laboratory at the University of Minnesota.

Vanden Bout joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry as an assistant professor in 1997. He was promoted to associate professor in 2003 and full professor in 2013. He became associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Natural Sciences in 2014, senior associate dean in 2019, and served as interim dean in 2018 and 2021 before serving as dean from 2021 to 2025. In 2025, he also served as interim provost and executive vice president of the university.

As dean, Vanden Bout led a college that supports more than 11,000 undergraduate students, 1,500 residential graduate students, more than 5,000 online master's students, approximately 700 faculty and 1,200 staff. The college's research expenditures exceeded $190 million and its facilities included the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas and the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis.

Vanden Bout has received numerous honors for research, teaching and leadership, including an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, a Cottrell Scholar Award, a Research Innovation Award, a President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award, a UT Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award, the Precursor's President's Award and GlobalMindED's Inclusive Leader Award.