Assmann Named Waller Professor in Plant Biology

8 August 2002 -- Sarah M. Assmann, professor of biology at Penn State, has been named the Waller Professor in Plant Biology at the University.

A world leader in the field of plant-cell signal transduction, Assmann studies how plants receive and respond to stimuli from the environment. In particular, she studies guard cells located on the surface of plant leaves. The activity and regulation of those cells plays a vital role in drought tolerance and photosynthesis.

The Louis Waller Professorship in Plant Biology was established by Louis Waller of Dunmore, Pennsylvania, and is intended to provide a faculty member with the necessary resources for research in plant electrophysiology to effect the healing and growth of plants.

"Such support provides a wonderful opportunity to learn even more about plant behavior," Assmann said. "In our bodies, certain cells have specific responsibilities, but in plants, with guard cells, the same cells act and respond to carry out a multitude of tasks. The more we learn about them, the more we will learn about plant physiology in general."

After joining the Penn State faculty as an associate professor in 1993, Assmann was named professor in 1997. In 2001, she earned a Penn State Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement based on her research. Among her other awards and honors was a National Science Foundation POWRE Award in 1999.

She also served as co-producer for a 1999 science-education video titled "Roots of Discovery."

Prior to coming to Penn State, Assmann was an associate professor at Harvard University. She earned her doctoral degree in biology from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, in 1986 and her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude in biology, from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1980.

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