Ross Lab
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATOR: Jennifer L. Ross
Ross an award-winning biophysicist studying the organization of the microtubule cytoskeleton and enzymes using high-resolution single-molecule imaging techniques. Ross has a Ph.D. in Physics, is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Cottrell Scholar, and winner of the Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award from the Biophysical Society.
She is a leader of the physics and biophysics community serving in elected positions of Secretary/Treasurer and Chair for the Division of Biological Physics (DBIO) in the American Physical Society (APS) and serving on the Biophysical Society Council. She is currently the co-chair of the Soft Matter Gordon Research Conference in 2025 and the Chair-Elect for the 2027 APS March Meeting and was elected to the APS Council to represent DBIO.
In June 2020, Ross was named the chair of the Physics Department at Syracuse University. Ross worked to build the community experience, grew the faculty ranks, and oversaw unprecedented research expenditures during her four years. The undergraduate programs were updated to include more hands-on, experiential learning with new lab courses specially designed for physics majors. As a Cottrell Scholar, Ross has pioneered innovative teaching techniques for experiential learning courses that have been adopted around the world.
Ross's ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4838-3798
Ross's Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_L._Ross
EDUCATION
AWARDS & HONORS
Scialog Fellow
Research Corporation for Science Advancement, 2015-2017
2000
Wellesley College
BA Physics and Mathematics, summa cum laude
2004
University of California, Santa Barbara
Ph.D. Physics
2004 - 2007
University of Pennsylvania
Postdoctoral Researcher in the Pennsylvania Muscle Institute
NSF INSPIRE Award
Research Corporation for Science Advancement, 2013
Cottrell Scholars Award
Research Corporation for Science Advancement, 2011
Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award
Biophysical Society,
2013
Basil O’Connor Starter Award
March of Dimes Foundation,
2009
Armstrong Fund for Science Award
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
2009
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award
National Institutes of Health,
2005
Barbara S. Uehling Graduate Dissertation Fellowship
(declined), USCB Affiliates,
2004
Ferrando-Fithian Award for Outstanding Woman in Physics
University of California, Santa Barbara,
2001
Graduate Assistance in the Areas of National Need (GAANN) Fellowship University of California, Santa Barbara,
2000
Phyllis Flemming Physics Prize for Outstanding Physics Major
Wellesley College,
2000
Jerome A. Schiff Fellowship for Thesis Work
Wellesley College
1999
Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS)
Division of Biological Physics
2018
Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium Thesis Fellowship
Wellesley College,
1999
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Section on Physics
2022