Eric Hegg is a Professor in the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department where his research focuses on focuses on elucidating how microbes perform environmentally important reactions. In particular, his lab studies various enzymes critical to the global nitrogen cycle, including an enzyme that converts the environmental contaminant nitrite into ammonia as well as enzymes that produce the potent greenhouse gas N2O.
In 2020 he was selected to be a Fellow in the Big Ten Academic Alliance – Academic Leadership Program, and in 2019 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In January 2020, he assumed the role of Associate Dean for Budget, Planning, Research, and Administration in the College of Natural Science where he promotes and enables the research enterprise and helps manage the day-to-day activities of the college.