Four Women Scientists Named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professors

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, has announced the appointment of 15 scientists as HHMI Professors. Each academic will receive $1 million over five years to create activities that integrate their research with student learning. The goal is to enhance undergraduate students’ understanding of science.

“Exceptional teachers have a lasting impact on students,” said HHMI President Robert Tjian. “These scientists are at the top of their respective fields and they bring the same creativity and rigor to science education that they bring to their research.”

Among the 15 scientists named HHMI Professors are four women.

(L to R) Susan S. Golden, Tracy L. Johnson, Susan K. McConnell, and Anne J. McNeil

Susan S. Golden is a Distinguished Professor of molecular biology and director of the Center for Circadian Biology at the University of California, San Diego. She has been on the faculty at UCSD since 2008. Previously, she taught at Texas A&M University. Professor Golden received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Mississippi University for Women and a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Missouri.  She is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Tracy L. Johnson is a professor of biology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She previously served on the faculty at the University of California, San Diego. Her research is focused on how cells synthesize, splice, and process RNA to regulate gene expression. Dr. Johnson is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego and holds a Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley. After earning her Ph.D., she served as a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology.

Susan K. McConnell is the Susan B. Ford Professor of Humanities and Sciences in the department of biology at Stanford University. In her lab, Dr. McConnell is working to understand how neural circuits are constructed in the mammalian brain. She is a graduate of Radcliffe College/Harvard University and holds a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University. Professor McConnell has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has taught at Stanford since 1989.

Anne J. McNeil is the Arthur F. Thurnau Associate Professor of Chemistry and an associate professor of macromolecular science and engineering at the University of Michigan. Dr. McNeil grew up in Buffalo, New York, and graduated in 1999 from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at Cornell University. Dr. McNeil joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 2007.