Art, Science, and Education: An Interview with Professor Susan McConnell

Abstract

Susan McConnell is the Susan B. Ford Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University. McConnell studies the development of the cerebral cortex, the brain region that controls our highest cognitive and perceptual functions. McConnell explores the mechanisms by which young neurons acquire an identity and establish specific connections. Her studies provide insights into the process of how the brain wires itself up during normal development. She has earned two of Stanford's highest teaching honors, the Hoagland Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching. From 2010-2012, she co-chaired a university-wide commission that evaluated undergraduate education at Stanford. McConnell also created the The Senior Reflection in Biology, where students in the year-long course undertake a creative project about a scientific topic that is meaningful to them. McConnell travels several times a year to capture intimate photographs of wildlife on the velds of South Africa, Namibia, and elsewhere in southern Africa. The stunning images she captures of wildlife in Africa have been featured in magazines and blogs, including a cover of Smithsonian magazine.

Biography adapted from and photo from Susan McConnell's profiles at https://profiles.stanford.edu/susan-mcconnell and http://www.hhmi.org/scientists/susan-k-mcconnell.