Office of the President

Interim President Loftin's Biography

Dr. R. Bowen Loftin is the interim president of Texas A&M University, having been selected to serve in that capacity on June 15, 2009. He has served the past four years as vice president and chief executive officer of the university’s marine-oriented branch campus, Texas A&M University at Galveston, where he also is professor of maritime systems engineering.

Dr. Loftin is a 1970 physics graduate of Texas A&M. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from Rice University, earned in 1973 and 1975, respectively, both also in physics.

Prior to assuming leadership of Texas A&M at Galveston, Dr. Loftin served at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, as professor of electrical and computer engineering and professor of computer science. Additionally, he was Old Dominion’s director of simulation programs and had responsibility for the institution’s graduate programs in modeling and simulation. He also served as executive director of the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center. Earlier in his career, he was professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science and director of the NASA Virtual Environments Research Institute at the University of Houston.

Dr. Loftin is a frequent consultant to both industry and government in the areas of modeling and simulation, advanced training technologies, and scientific/engineering data visualization. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 technical publications.

He serves on numerous advisory committees and panels sponsored by governmental and professional organizations. His citations and honors include the University of Houston-Downtown Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Service (twice), the American Association of Artificial Intelligence Award for an innovative application of artificial intelligence, NASA's Space Act Award, the NASA Public Service Medal, and the 1995 NASA Invention of the Year Award.