Andreia Figueiredo Dexheimer is from São Luís, a city in northeastern Brazil. She completed her undergraduate degree at Universidade Federal do Maranhão in biology and science education, where she was licensed as a middle and high school teacher. She is passionate about education, but found that the traditional classroom setup didn’t suit her. She decided to complete a master’s degree in business, while teaching English as a second language part time, but missed being in the science world, so she applied for a PhD program in biology at University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL).
Dexheimer knew she wanted to be a scientist at a young age. Her 6th grade science teacher provided her first exposure to ecology. She was fascinated to learn about competition and predation, the food web, and interactive processes of nature. She knew then that she wanted to work in the field of biology, specifically ecology, an interest solidified during her college years completing research in LESPP - Laboratório de Ecologia e Sistemática de Insetos Polinizadores e Predadores (Laboratory of Ecology and Systematics of Pollinating and Predatory Insects).
“I am privileged to have college-educated parents. My father was a professor at the university I attended, so I knew the importance of research. I ended up in an insect ecology lab as a college freshman. The first time I saw a wasp under a microscope, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. I was hooked. The insect world is so amazing. There's so much beauty and grace that you can go your whole life without ever appreciating if you’re not paying attention. That was a big moment that grabbed me into animal behavior and ecology, but specifically insects,” Dexheimer said.
During her PhD program at UMSL , she completed research on orchid bee cognitive ecology in the Dunlap Lab, and partnered with UMSL’s Whitney Harris World Ecology Center and The Saint Louis Zoo. She also earned a Certificate in University Teaching, to be part of educating a new generation of scientists. She completed a postdoc in STEM education at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (SIUE) and stayed on as a research faculty member, studying how people learn science. Exposure to different aspects of the science education field made her realize that the research piece suited her more than the classroom piece.
The research development position at WashU opened up in March 2025, at the perfect time in her career when she had experience with research in education, but was still feeling the call of biology. The College of Arts and Sciences has a new Research Development team supporting research across disciplines. New hires for this office include Dexheimer, who is assigned to the Biology Department.
“It is a perfect fit, because it’s research-focused, but not me doing my own research. It’s an opportunity to broaden my understanding of research in other fields. Everyone in the department is excited to share their work with me so it’s been a fun couple of months!” Dexheimer exclaimed.
Her job entails finding funding opportunities to share with faculty, researching the ever-changing landscape of federal government funding to stay as current as possible, and helping faculty members find each other to apply for funding as a team.
“I spend a lot of my time intelligence gathering—reading NSF, NIH, and DOE reports— figuring out what is coming up next. My goal is to follow through the budget process to see what is being cut, what is being funded, what are some of the new priorities, and really thinking about team science. I try to identify problems that we can only solve with interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary or convergent research,” Dexheimer explained.
She is currently meeting one-on-one with biology faculty to work toward building a database that captures the faculty and research in the department, current projects, future directions, funding sources, and possible connections with each other and researchers in other departments. While Principle Investigators are deep in their own research, she is deep in research on what funding agencies are looking for. She reviews proposals and gives feedback based on her current knowledge of funding agencies’ rules, trends, and priorities.
When asked if the future of federal funding is all doom and gloom for science, she says, “I don't think people are overreacting to our current political climate with regard to research funding, but the trap is letting the weight of it overwhelm you to the point that it paralyzes you. We don't have the luxury of being paralyzed by what's going on. We can react, mourn, grieve, and be concerned about it, but also have enough grit that we can move forward. A lot of that resilience and positivity comes from community. The United States still wants to be pioneering science, but priorities have shifted toward research that has tangible results in a short amount of time. As scientists, we know that basic science research fuels innovation, but there is a misconception that what fuels innovation is the end result. However, universities that don't keep applying are not going to get any funding, so we need to keep applying, get more creative, and learn from all the setbacks.,” Dexheimer explained.
Arts & Sciences’ interconnectedness with WashU School of Medicine, MO Botanical Garden, St. Louis Zoo, Danforth Plant Science Center, and other local institutions is a strength that brings more people to the table with ideas and resources—a research web.
“I think sometimes when you're in the day to day work of a lab, it's hard to see outside of that space. Something that I really like about my job is that I’m looking on the outside a lot, and what I see is a giant research network that is special and unique,” Dexheimer said.
In her free time, Dexheimer loves hiking, reading, and spending time with her husband and dog. To learn more about how she can help with your research funding, email andreiad@wustl.edu.
