Davison was previously leader of the biochemical engineering research group in addition to serving as director of ORNL's Bioprocessing Research and Development Center and chair of the Institutional Biosafety Committee. He has worked on a variety of research and development projects in the area of bioprocessing, resulting in more than 80 publications, six patents and an R&D 100 Award. Davison earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester and a doctorate in the same field from the California Institute of Technology. He joined ORNL in 1985 and is a resident of Knoxville.