Terry Gaasterland

Terry began her path to genomics with a solid undergraduate education at Duke University. Although, initially pursuing electrical engineering, she eventually settled on a double major in computer science and Russian. In addition to these two areas of study, she focused much of her interest on chemistry. Each of these fields of study would assist her future work in research. Chemistry would prove to be a foundation of knowledge by which to later comprehend the biological aspects of her work. Her love of languages would help her both in practical communication demands and and in visualizing problems. As she says, "The genome is just another language." And finally, her work with computer science would prove to be particularly important in her education, allowing her to construct the models that she has for the genome. After Duke, Terry continued to pursue computer science with a master's degree and a doctoral degree from the University of Maryland. From grad school, Terry moved on to the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and then to Rockefeller University where she has been an assistant professor and head of laboratory since 1998. To see what Terry is doing right now, go to her laboratory website at Rockefeller University.

In October of 2000, Terry received the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor presented to young professionals at the start of their independent research careers. For links to the press releases of this distinguished honor, click here or here.

Teresa.Tetlow@duke.edu

Jennifer.Snook@duke.edu

Julia.Whitley@duke.edu