Dr. Dewey received his graduate training in Plant Molecular Biology at North Carolina State University with Dr. C. S. Levings III and Dr. David Timothy as his mentors. Funded by an NSF postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Dewey received additional experience at the Waksman Institute, Rutgers University under the direction of Dr. Daniel F. Klessig. Since 1991, Dr. Dewey has applied the techniques of molecular biology toward the identification and characterization of genes of potential agronomic value as a faculty member in the Department of Crop Science, NCSU.

He team teaches the course Molecular Biology in Plant Breeding (CS/GN/HS 720) together with Dr. Rongda Qu.