MBL Accolades

Several members of the MBL community are among the 250 outstanding individuals elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) this year. AAAS members are world leaders in the arts and sciences, business, philanthropy, and public affairs, based across the United States and around the world. Academy members join with other experts to explore challenges facing society, identify solutions, and promote nonpartisan recommendations that advance the public good. Congratulations to the MBL affiliates elected this year into the Academy's Class II – Biological Sciences section:

Andre Fenton, Whitman Scientist (2019-2022); Director, Neural Systems & Behavior (2013-2018); Faculty, Summer Program in Neuroscience, Excellence and Success (SPINES) (2014-2015)
Diane Griffin, Faculty, Pathogenesis of Neuroimmunology (1997, 2005, 2007)
Aaron Mitchell, MBL Council member;  Director, Molecular Mycology (1997-2010);  Faculty, Molecular Mycology (2011-2016, 2018-2019)
Marina Picciotto, Faculty, Neurobiology (1992-1994)
Edward Ruby, Faculty, Microbial Ecology (1980, 1982-1983); Faculty, Microbiology (1984)
Timothy Ryan, Director, Neurobiology (2012-2013, 2015-2016); Faculty, Neurobiology (2011)
Paul Selvin,  Whitman Scientist (2011, 2014)
Mariana Wolfner, Faculty, FIR (2017)

Read about the new Academy members here. (April 24, 2024)

Francesco DeMayo, faculty member and former director of MBL’s Frontiers in Reproduction (FIR) course, has received the highest award bestowed by the Society for the Study of Reproduction, the 2024 Carl G. Hartman Award. The award “recognizes a career of research and scholarly achievements in the field of reproductive biology” and cites DeMayo’s research on “elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying normal uterine physiology and pregnancy, with a specific emphasis on the roles of the sex steroids progesterone and estrogen.” DeMayo, laboratory chief and senior investigator at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, directed FIR from 2005-2008 and has served on the course faculty for 13 summers since 2005.  Also honored by the Society for the Study of Reproduction this year are Shu Xiao (FIR alumnus, 2011; TA or lecturer 2016-2019, 2022) who received the society’s Virendra B. Mahesh New Investigator Award; Paula Cohen, FIR faculty 2010-2017, who received the Trainee Mentoring Award; and Xiaoqiu Wang (FIR alumnus 2014; Frontiers in Stem Cells and Regeneration course alumnus 2014) who received the Janice Bahr Junior Scientist Travel Award. Read more about the awardees here. (April 4, 2024)

The 2024 recipients of The Brain Prize, the world's largest brain research prize awarded by the Lundbeck Foundation, are all faculty affiliates of the MBL. They are Larry Abbott of Columbia University, Terrence Sejnowski of the Salk Institute and Haim Sompolinsky of Harvard University, recognized for their "pioneering contributions to the field of computational and theoretical neuroscience." Abbott has served on the faculty of the MBL's Neural Systems and Behavior course and Methods in Computational Neuroscience (MCN) course since 1992. Sejnowski, a 1978 alumnus of the MBL Neurobiology course, has also served on the MCN faculty for many years since 1982. Sompolinsky  has served on the MCN faculty since 1993, and also teaches in the Brains, Minds and Machines course at MBL (1993-2023). Read more about the awardees and the prize here.(March 29, 2024)

Loretta Roberson, associate scientist in the MBL's Bell Center, has been named a Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials Fellow by the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement (RCSA). This fellowship supports Roberson's research on how seaweeds might play a role in the development and use of materials that enhance new technologies to transition to a sustainable and low-carbon energy system. The RCSA is a foundation providing catalytic funding for innovative scientific research and the development of academic scientists. Read more about Roberson here. (March 29, 2024)

Emerson Conrad-Rooney of Boston University, a 2018 graduate of the MBL Semester in Environmental Science (SES), has received a 2024 Graduate Student Policy Award from the Ecological Society of America. The awardees are engaged in advocacy with an interest in science policy and will travel to Washington, D.C., for policy, communication and career training followed by meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. In SES, Conrad-Rooney worked with MBL Distinguished Scientists Jerry Melillo and John Hobbie to explore plant root-fungi symbiosis and its interaction with nitrogen and calcium cycles. Conrad-Rooney is currently a Ph.D. student in Pamela Templer's lab at BU, where she is studying the effects of climate change on carbon sequestration in New England forests. Their long-term goal is to become a professor of forest ecology and bring experience in both ecology and science policy to their teaching and research. Read more about Conrad-Rooney and the other awardees here. (March 15, 2024)

Mandë Holford of Hunter College/CUNY Graduate Center, a Whitman Scientist and former E.E. Just Fellow at MBL, has been named a juror for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Holford is on the jury for the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, which recognizes "an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character." Read more about Holford here. (Jan. 4, 2024)

Two alumni of the MBL Logan Science Journalism Program, Sarah Kaplan of The Washington Post and freelance journalist Paul Tullis, have received 2023 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards for their distinguished reporting. Kaplan and colleagues received a Silver Award (Science Reporting, Large Outlet) for a comprehensive multimedia story on Crawford Lake in Ontario "which has evidence that humans have changed the planet’s chemistry and climate in such fundamental ways that many scientists believe they mark a new chapter in geologic time called the Anthropocene." Tullis, writing for Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, received a Silver Award (Magazine) for his story on avian influenza, "Is the Next Pandemic Brewing on the Netherlands’ Poultry Farms?” Read more about Kaplan and Tullis here. (November 10, 2023)

Valerie Tornini of Yale University (MBL Embryology course alumna, 2017) has been named a 2023 Wunderkind by STAT News. These are "the most impressive doctors and researchers on the cusp of launching their careers, but not yet fully independent ... All are blazing new trails as they attempt to answer big questions in science and medicine." Tornini, a developmental biologist, uses zebrafish as a model to study the gene regulatory networks that establish the cellular diversity of a developing brain. She has also served as a teaching assistant in the MBL's Zebrafish Development and Genetics course (2018-2019, 2022). Read more about Tornini here. (October 27, 2023)

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has announced its 2023 Hanna H. Gray Fellowships and several of the new fellows and/or their faculty mentors are MBL faculty or alumni. The Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program provides each fellow with up to $1.5 million in support for up to eight years, spanning postdoctoral training through transition to an early career faculty position. Congratulations to new fellow Raul Arturo Ramos-Garcia of University of California, Berkeley (MBL Neurobiology course manager 2022 and 2023, teaching assistant 2019 and 2021, and alumnus 2018) and his faculty mentor at UC-Berkeley, Ellen Lumpkin (MBL Neurobiology course director 2018-2022, faculty 2015 and 2017; Neural Systems and Behavior course faculty 2016). Other MBL-affiliated mentors of 2023 Hannah Gray Fellows are Anita Sil of UC-Berkeley (MBL Molecular Mycology course faculty 2001, 2012); Phillip Cleves of Carnegie Science (MBL Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis course director, 2023); Rajat Rohatgi of Stanford University (MBL Applied and Quantitative Light Microscopy course alumna, 1999); and Kerwyn Casey Huang of Stanford University (MBL Physiology course faculty, 2010-2012, 2017). Read more about the 2023 fellows and their mentors here. (Sept. 22, 2023)

Maryn McKenna, senior writer at WIRED and advisor to the MBL's Logan Science Journalism Program, has received the 2023 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting from the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. Read more about McKenna here. (Sept. 1, 2023)

Cristina Roman-Vendrell, a postdoctoral scientist in the MBL's Eugene Bell Center, has been selected for the National Institute of Health's MOSAIC program (Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers). This program is part of NIH’s efforts to enhance diversity within the academic biomedical research workforce, and is designed to facilitate the transition of promising postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds into independent, tenure-track or equivalent research-intensive faculty positions. Read more about Roman-Vendrell here. (July 19, 2023)

The National Academy of Sciences has announced the election of 120 new members and 23 international members “in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.” Membership in the Academy is considered to be one of the highest honors a scientist can receive. Congratulations to former MBL Trustee Claire Fraser and several other MBL alumni, faculty and researchers who were elected to the Academy this year: Barbara A. Block (Alumna, Electron Microscopy in Biological Science, 1982); Moses V. Chao (Course Faculty, Pathogenesis of Neuroimmunologic Disease, 2001, 2005, 2007); Marla Feller (Course Faculty, Neurobiology, 1999); Claire M. Fraser (MBL Trustee, 2000-2004; Course Director, Advances in Genome Tech/Bioinformatics, 2002, 2004; Course Faculty, Molecular Evolution, 1999-2001; Alumna, Microinjection Techniques, 1990); Ursula W. Goodenough (Course Faculty, Microbiology, 1984); James Jones (Course Faculty, Summer Program in Neuroscience, Excellence and Success, 2002-2005); Robert E. Kass (Course Faculty, Neurobiology, 1987-1989; Methods in Computational Neuroscience, 2003); Neuroinformatics, 2004-2009); Andre Nussenzweig (Alumnus, Physiology, 1994); Eduardo A. Perozo (Course Director, University of Chicago Bootcamp & Programs, 2021; Course Faculty, Biology of the Inner Ear, 2011); Naomi Pierce (Alumna, Molecular Evolution, 1991); Helen M. Piwnica-Worms (MBL Summer Fellow, 1989); Michael N. Shadlen (Course Faculty, Methods in Computational Neuroscience, 2015, 2019, 2021); Elly M. Tanaka (Alumna, Embryology, 1988); Elizabeth Vierling (Alumna, Physiology, 1979); Michelle D. Wang (Alumna, Physiology, 2007); Anne D. Yoder (Whitman Scientist, 2011, 2016, 2017; Course Director, Molecular Evolution, 2017;  Course Faculty, Molecular Evolution, 2002-2011, 2014-2016, 2018; Alumna, Molecular Evolution, 1994). (May 12, 2023)

Numerous MBL community members are among the accomplished individuals elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) in 2023. The Academy is an honorary society, with members elected from the non-profit, private, and public sectors, and an independent policy organization with initiatives in the arts, democracy, education, global affairs, and science. Congratulations to the following MBL affiliates to be elected this year. Class 1 (Mathematical and Physical Sciences): Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, Physiology course faculty 2004, Brains, Minds, and Machines course director 2014, and Physical Biology of the Cell course faculty 2016: Class 2 (Biological Sciences): James Briscoe, Gene Regulatory Networks course faculty 2012-2017, 2019; Frank Constantini, Embryology course faculty 1984, 1986; Amy Gladfelter, Physiology course faculty 2016, 2021-2023, Molecular Mycology course faculty 2013, Physiology course alumna 1998, MBL New Research Organisms Committee Member, MBL Imaging Committee Member, MBL Society, former MBL Fellow; Tobias Meyer, Physiology course faculty 2004, 2010; Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Zebrafish Development & Genetics course faculty 2012-2019, 2022; Hollis Cline, Neurobiology course director 2008-2009, Neural Systems & Behavior course faculty 1989-1994, Whitman Scientist 1993; James DiCarlo, Brains, Minds and Machines course faculty 2015-2018; Marla Feller, Neurobiology course faculty, 1999; Mary Beth Hatten, Neurobiology course alumna 1975, Neurobiology course faculty 1986, Neural Systems and Behavior course faculty 1992; Ramon Latorre, Neurobiology course faculty 1982; Wade Regehr, Grass Fellow 1988;  Erin Schuman, Neural Systems and Behavior course alumna 1988, Neural Systems and Behavior course faculty 1995; Louis Muglia, Frontiers in Reproduction course faculty 2016; Andre Nussenzweig, Physiology Course alumnus 1994; Ronald Germain, Biology of Parasitism course faculty 1987. (April 28, 2023)

Melina Hale has been appointed the next dean of the College (the undergraduate school) at the University of Chicago. Hale, who served as co-interim director of the MBL in 2017-18, is currently vice provost of the University and the William Rainey Harper Professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy. A distinguished neurobiologist, Hale has had a long association with the MBL as a former Grass Fellow (2000), faculty member in the Neural Development & Genetics of Zebrafish course (2004) and research collaborator with MBL scientists, and she serves on the MBL Council. Hale will succeed John W. Boyer, the Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of History, who has served as dean of the College for more than 30 years. Read more about Hale here. (April 14, 2023)

Two MBL faculty alumni have received the 2023 Brain Prize for their research on brain development and synaptic plasticity. They are Michael Greenberg of Harvard Medical School (Neurobiology course faculty, 1997-2000) and Erin Schuman of Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (Neural Systems & Behavior course alumna 1988, faculty 1995). Along with Christine Holt of University of Cambridge, Greenberg and Schuman will share the ~$1.45M prize, which is considered among the most prestigious in neuroscience. (March 24, 2023)

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) named a new cohort of AAAS Fellows in October 2022, and several of them are MBL affiliates. Election as a Fellow “honors members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers and colleagues.” Congratulations to the following MBL course faculty and alumni who were elected: AAAS Section on Biological Sciences : Carol Arnosti of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (alumna, Microbiology, 1989); Stuart Brody of University of California, San Diego (alumnus, Physiology, 1960); Enrique de la Cruz of Yale University (faculty, Physiology, 2018; faculty, Physical Biology of the Cell, 2017-2018);  Rebecca Wright Heald, University of California, Berkeley (faculty, Physiology, 2004-2005); Irene Lucile Garcia Newton of Indiana University, Bloomington (alumna, Analytical and Quantitative Light Microscopy, 2011); Leslie Rissler of National Science Foundation (alumna, Molecular Evolution, 1998); Pamela Soltis of University of Florida (faculty, Molecular Evolution, 1997); Carmen Williams of NIH National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (faculty, Frontiers in Reproduction,  2012, 2016-2019). AAAS Section on Geology and Geography: Doug Erwin, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (faculty, Gene Regulatory Networks, 2015, 2018-2019). AAAS Section on Medical Sciences: Tobias Hohl of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (faculty, Molecular Mycology, 2009; alumnus, Molecular Mycology, 2005); Asma Nusrat of University of Michigan (alumna, Microinjection, 1991). AAAS Section on Neuroscience: William Carlezon of Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital (faculty, Neurobiology of Brain Dysfunction, 2011). AAAS Section on Physics: James Glazier of Indiana University Bloomington (alumnus, Neural System and Behavior, 1991); Lena Kourkoutis of Cornell University (alumna, Physiology, 2012); Jennifer Ross of Syracuse University (lecturer, Analytical and Quantitative Light Microscopy, 2016; faculty, AQLM, 2015, 2017). (March 2, 2023)

Several early-career MBL community members have been named 2023 Sloan Research Fellows, whose "achievements and potential place them among the next generation of scientific leaders in the U.S. and Canada." Fellows receive $75,000, which may be spent over a two-year term on any expense supportive of their research. Among the 125 fellows named this year are MBL course faculty and alumni Andrea M. Gomez of University of California, Berkeley (faculty, Neurobiology, 2022); Ann Kennedy of Northwestern University (alumna, Methods in Computational Neuroscience, 2011); Jeffrey Markowitz of Georgia Institute of Technology (alumnus, Neuroinformatics, 2010) and Cengiz Pehlevan of Harvard University (alumnus, Methods in Computational Neuroscience, 2011). Read more about the Sloan Research Fellowships here. (March 2, 2023)

Patricia Hunt, Regents Professor at Washington State University, has received the March of Dimes 2022 Award in Developmental Biology. The award, which carries a $150,000 prize, honors Hunt's "instrumental discoveries in how prenatal development is impacted by aging, mistakes in cell division, and environmental exposures. This annual award honors an outstanding scientist who has advanced the science that underlies our understanding of pregnancy, birth and prenatal development." Hunt is co-director of the MBL course "Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Hazards and Opportunities." (Jan. 19, 2023)

The late Roger Tsien of University of California-San Diego is a 2023 inductee to the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHM). Tsien, the late MBL Distinguished Scientist Osamu Shimomura, and Martin Chalfie of Columbia University received the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and development of green fluorescent protein, which revolutionized biological imaging. Other 2023 NIHM inductees were involved with the discovery and development of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing and modified mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines, among other inventions. Tsien served on the faculty of the MBL's Optical Microscopy & Imaging in the Biomedical Sciences course (1989-1990) and was a lecturer in MBL Neurobiology (1997, 2000-2004). (Jan. 17, 2023)

Mandë Holford of Hunter College/CUNY Graduate Center, the 2022 E.E. Just Fellow in the MBL Whitman Center, has been named a juror for the Sundance Film Festival. She will be judging in the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize category. This prize is given annually to a feature film that focuses on science or technology as a theme, or depicts a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character. (Jan. 13, 2023)