Business Insider recently published its list of “50 Groundbreaking Scientists Who are Changing the Way We See the World.” Of these 50 groundbreaking scientists, 15 are women and 11 of these women have current ties to academic institutions in the United States.
Cori Bargmann is the Torsten N. Wiesel Professor in the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior at Rockefeller University in New York City. Her research is focused on discovering how neurons and genes affect behavior. Professor Bargmann is a graduate of the University of Georgia, where she majored in biochemistry. She earned a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Bargmann joined the faculty at Rockefeller University in 2004 after teaching at the University of California, Berkeley.
Emily Levesque is a Hubble Fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She has been at the University of Colorado since 2010. Dr. Levesque earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Hawaii. Her research is focused on massive stellar astrophysics.
Helen E. Fisher is a visiting research associate and member of the Center for Human Evolutionary Studies in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Dr. Fisher is the author of several books including Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love (Henry Holt, 2004) and Why Him? Why Her?: How to Find and Keep Lasting Love (Henry Holt, 2010). Dr. Fisher is a graduate of New York University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in physical anthropology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Holley Moyes is an assistant professor at the University of California, Merced. She is an anthropological archaeologist who has studied the Mayan culture. Dr. Moyes is a graduate of Florida State University. She holds a master’s degree from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and a Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York System.
Jennifer Doudna is the Li Ka Shing Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Doudna has developed powerful technology for editing genomes, with wide-ranging implications across biology and medicine. Dr. Doudna is a graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, California. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Jennifer L. Eberhardt is an associate professor of psychology at Stanford University in California. Her research focuses on how race impacts police behavior and how it affects sentencing decisions by judges and juries. Dr. Eberhardt has been affiliated with Stanford University since 1998. Previously, she taught at Yale University. Dr. Eberhardt is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University. In 2014, Dr. Eberhardt was named a MacArthur Fellow.
Karen L. King is the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard University. The Hollis Professorship is the oldest endowed chair in the United States and Professor King is the first woman to hold it. Her research focuses on early Christian history. Dr. King is the author of several books including The Secret Revelation of John (Harvard University Press, 2006) and The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle (Polebridge Press, 2003). Professor King is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Montana. She holds a Ph.D. in the history of religions from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Katherine Freese is the George Eugene Uhlenbeck Collegiate Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan. She also serves as the director of the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics. Professor Freese joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1991. She is the author of The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter (Princeton University Press, 2014). Dr. Freese earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at Princeton University in 1977. Professor Freese believes she was only the second woman to major in physics at Princeton. Dr. Freese earned a master’s degree at Columbia University and a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Chicago.
Maryam Mirzakhani is a professor of mathematics at Stanford University. In 2014 she was awarded the Fields Medal, considered by many as the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics.” Professor Mirzakhani is the first woman to ever be awarded the Fields Medal, which was established in 1936. Professor Mirzakhani has served on the Stanford faculty since 2008. Earlier, she taught at Princeton University. She is a graduate of the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran, and earned a Ph.D. at Harvard University.
Sara Seager is the Class of 1941 Professor, professor of physics, and professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Seager and her research team have been credited with discovering more than 700 planets circling distant stars. Professor Seager joined the MIT faculty in 2006. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto and holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University. Dr. Seager is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow.
Sonja Lyubomirsky is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside. Her research is focused on dynamics of human happiness. Professor Lyubomirsky is the author of The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want (Penguin Press, 2007). She has served on the faculty at the University of California, Riverside since 1994 and has been a full professor since 2005. Dr. Lyubomirsky is a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard University. She holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from Stanford University.