1997 John P. McGovern Science and Society Award
Dr. Fedoroff is the Willaman Professor of Life Sciences and director of the Biotechnology Institute and the Life Science Consortium at The Pennsylvania State University. She earned her B.S. in biology and chemistry from Syracuse University and her Ph.D. in molecular biology from The Rockefeller University. Following her graduate training, Dr. Fedoroff held faculty positions at the University of California at Los Angeles, the Carnegie Institution of Washington and The Johns Hopkins University; she joined the faculty at The Pennsylvania State University in 1995. Her areas of research include plant transposable elements, epigenetic mechanisms, and plant development in which she has published more than 90 scientific articles and co-authored a book, The Dynamic Genome: Barbara McClintock's Ideas in the Century of Genetics. Her wide range of extracurricular activities includes service on a wide array of boards, commissions, advisory panels, and as a former flutist for the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. Her awards include the National Institutes of Health Merit Award, the Howard Taylor Ricketts Award, and the Outstanding Contemporary Woman Scientist from the New York Academy of Sciences; she recently was named among the 50 most outstanding alumni of the Damon Runyan-Walter Winchell Foundation. Fedoroff is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Phi Beta Kappa. She was elected to Sigma Xi by The Rockefeller University Chapter.