Barbara A. Schaal, a world-renowned evolutionary plant biologist, will become dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis at the beginning of the year. Dr. Schaal currently serves as the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor of Biology and director of the Tyson Research Center at the university.
Professor Schaal joined the Washington University faculty in 1980 and was promoted to full professor in 1986. Previously, she served on the faculty at the University of Houston and Ohio State University. Her current research focuses on the plant genetics of cassava and rice.
Dr. Schaal is the first woman elected vice president of the National Academy of Sciences. She is a past president of the Botanical Society of America and the Society for the Study of Evolution.
A native of Berlin, Germany, Schaal grew up in Chicago and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in population biology from Yale University.