Susan K. McConnell

Susan K. McConnell is the Susan B. Ford Professor of Biological Sciences, the Dunlevie Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University, and holds a courtesy appointment in Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford's School of Medicine. She is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. McConnell has expanded our understanding of the mechanisms directing development of the cerebral cortex of the mammalian brain. She studies the critical processes that result in the development of the central nervous system, including the production of neurons from progenitor cells, the migration of young neurons into appropriate positions within the brain and the formation of specific synaptic contacts. These processes ultimately generate the formation of precisely wired neuronal circuits that underlie complex behaviors. Through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, she is pioneering new paradigms for science communication with an educational program that aims to provide transferrable skills in scientific communication that can educate, inform, and evoke curiosity about a scientific topic by involving students in personally engaging forms of writing and artistic or creative forms of expression. In addition to her research and teaching, McConnell is an accomplished wildlife photographer, whose work has appeared in Smithsonian magazine, National Geographic, Stanford Magazine, Nature’s Best Photography, Expressions, Currents, and the American Kennel Club Gazette. Her profile picture for this page was taken by Tim Grams. She has held the Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, Searle Scholar, Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, and McKnight Investigator awards, among many others, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences in addition to her American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership. Her scientific articles appear across a wide range of journals including Neuron and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.