Photo Credit: Mike Lovett
The Division of Science at Brandeis University encompasses 15 departments and programs granting degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s and PhD levels. Students work together with postdocs, staff and faculty on research projects that target pressing issues in science.
Brandeis is one of the 65 members of the American Association of Universities. The Division of Science funding sources include the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. We also are a National Science Foundation funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), one of only 24 universities nationwide to receive this award.
Brandeis University is one of only 35 private universities to be designated by the Carnegie Foundation as research universities with a “very high research activity.”
Science Faculty
Among the current Brandeis science faculty with research labs there is:
- a National Medal of Science recipient (Eve Marder)
- a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recipient (Michael Rosbash)
- a Kavli Prize in Neuroscience recipient (Eve Marder)
- 8 American Association of the Advancement of Science fellows (Bulbul Chakraborty, Irving Epstein, Chandler Fulton, Leslie Griffith, James Haber, Susan Lovett, Eve Marder, and Piali Sengupta).
- 5 members of the National Academy of Sciences (James Haber, Susan Lovett, Eve Marder, Michael Rosbash, Gina Turrigiano)
- 8 fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (Carol Fierke, Jeff Gelles, James Haber, Susan Lovett, Eve Marder, Michael Rosbash, Piali Sengupta and Gina Turrigiano)
- 1 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator (Michael Rosbash)
- 2 Howard Hughes Medical Institute professors (Irving Epstein, Jane Kondev); and
- a MacArthur Fellow (Gina Turrigiano)
Nobel Prize-Winning Alumni
Two Division of Science alumni have gone on to receive Nobel Prizes.
Rod Mackinnon, earned a BA in Biochemistry from Brandeis in 1978 and later returned to do his postdoc in Chris Miller's Biochemistry lab (1986-1989). He received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Drew Weissman received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2023. He earned his BA and MA in Biochemistry from Brandeis in 1981.
Division Head
The head of the Division of Science is Susan Birren, the Zalman Abraham Kekst Professor in Neuroscience