Barbara Schaal, Ph.D.

 
-Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor

-Professor, Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
 
Education:
B.S. (1969) – University of Illinois, Chicago (Biology)
M. Phil. (1971) – Yale University (Population Biology)
Ph.D. (1974) – Yale University (Population Biology)

Bio:
Barbara Schaal’s career as a leading evolutionary biologist began with a youthful fascination with plants. Currently the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor at Washington University, she is recognized for her work on the genetics of plant species, particularly for her studies that use DNA sequences to understand evolutionary processes such as gene flow, geographical differentiation, and the domestication of crop species.

Born in Berlin, Germany, Dr. Schaal grew up in Chicago. She was on the faculty of the University of Houston and The Ohio State University before joining Washington University in 1980. She was chairman of the Department of Biology there from 1993-1997. Schaal has been president of the Botanical Society of America and president of the Society for the Study of Evolution. In 2005 Dr. Schaal became the first woman elected to the vice presidency of the National Academy of Sciences.

Work in Barbara Schaal’s lab focuses on the evolutionary genetics of plants, often in collaboration with staff and students of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Research projects span the range from molecular evolution of genetics, systematics, and quantitative genetics. Schaal studies plant species native to the U.S., tropical crops and their wild relatives, and Arabidopsis.