Tim Stearns

Tim Stearns
Stearns in 2012
Born	(1961-08-08) 8 August 1961 New York, United States
Citizenship	US
Fields	Genetics Cell Biology Developmental Biology
Institutions	Stanford University
Alma mater	Cornell University (BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD) University of California, San Francisco (Postdoc)
Thesis	Genetic analysis of the yeast microtubule cytoskeleton (1988)
Doctoral advisor	David Botstein
Other academic advisors	Marc Kirschner
Notable awards	HHMI Professor, Searle Scholar
Website stearnslab.stanford.edu med.stanford.edu/profiles/Tim_Stearns

Tim Stearns (born 1961 in Huntington, New York) is the Frank Lee and Carol Hall Professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University, with appointments in the Department of Genetics and the Cancer Center in the Stanford Medical School. He is the chairman of the Department of Biology, and is an HHMI Professor. Stearns is also a member of JASON, a scientific advisory group, and is an affiliated faculty member of the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation. He is on the editorial board of The Journal of Cell Biology.

Education

Tim Stearns received his B.S. degree in Genetics from Cornell University, and did his undergraduate thesis work in the lab of Tom Fox on nuclear control of mitochondrial function in yeast. He received his Ph.D. degree in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His Ph.D. advisor at MIT was David Botstein, and the title of his thesis was "Genetic analysis of the yeast microtubule cytoskeleton." Stearns' thesis work was notable for identifying exceptions to the genetic complementation test that were useful for defining genetic interactions, and for the first use of the term "synthetic lethality" in the modern sense of two non-lethal mutations resulting in lethality in the double mutant.^[1] Stearns credits Botstein with instilling in him a commitment to teaching, and the belief that teaching and research go hand-in-hand.^[2]

Professional career

Stearns is known for his work on problems in cell biology and developmental biology, with a focus on the structure and function of the centrosome and cilium of eukaryotic cells. He was a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow with Marc Kirschner at UCSF, where he published work on gamma-tubulin^[3] and in vitro reconstitution of the centrosome.^[4] Stearns has been a faculty member in the Department of Biology at Stanford since 1993. His major research accomplishments include the identification and characterization of new members of the tubulin superfamily of proteins,^[5][6][7] elucidation of mechanisms of centrosome duplication,^[8][9][10] and identification of properties of the primary cilium.^[11][12]

Stearns has also been active in undergraduate and graduate education, being named an HHMI Professor in 2002,^[13] and has chaired the Education committees of the American Society for Cell Biology and the Genetics Society of America. He created a pre-grad program at Stanford to train the next generation of leaders in biology research through close interaction with faculty members in course work, research and advising.^[14] Stearns has also taught workshops in South Africa, Chile, Ghana,^[15] and Tanzania.^[16]

Stearns is an advisor to the US government on science and technology matters. He was a member of the Defense Science Study Group, and is a current member of JASON,^[17] an independent scientific advisory group to the US that provides expertise on problems related to national security.

Personal life

Stearns and his wife Sue Cleveland live in Redwood City and tend a fruit tree orchard^[18] originally planted by Jack Hensill, former dean of Natural Sciences at San Francisco State University, and a founder of the Redwood City Farmers Market.^[19] Stearns is an accomplished musician, and student of American traditional music and early jazz.^[20][21]

References