Chemistry Professor Emeritus Mary Roberts has been elected a fellow of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), part of a select group of 28 distinguished scientists recognized for outstanding accomplishments in research, education, mentorship, and service to the scientific community.
Roberts, still an active scholar following her retirement in 2017 after 30 years at BC, is a member of just the second class of fellows selected from the society’s 12,000 members. An inaugural class of 30 fellows was named last year.
Mary Roberts (Photo by Gary Wayne Gilbert)
“The society covers a wide range of biological disciplines and I am pleased to have been selected as a member of the 2022 class of fellows,” Roberts said. “I may be retired, but I am still working up data and writing up results and having fun.”
Roberts, who earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University, has focused her research on two primary areas: defining how membrane components control certain enzyme activities and how this affects cell signaling; and understanding how cells and microorganisms respond to stress by adjusting their small molecule pools.
Roberts was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2007 and in 2008 received BC’s Distinguished Senior Research Award. The National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation also recognized her work.
In 2006, Roberts was among the faculty who assisted in the launch of the Women in Science and Technology (WST) program, which brought high school-age female students to campus to study with BC undergraduates and faculty. WST has since encouraged other pre-collegiate initiatives in the sciences.
“We are pleased to learn that Mary is elected to the fellows of ASBMB. This recognition is well deserved,” said Chemistry Department Chair Dunwei Wang, the Margaret A. and Thomas A. Vanderslice Professor in Chemistry. “It speaks not only of her outstanding scientific contributions in the field of biochemistry, but also of her significant service to the community. She will remain a role model and inspiration for our faculty and students.”
The fellows will be recognized April 3 at the 2022 ASBMB Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology conference.
Ed Hayward | University Communications | February 2022