Stony Brook Provost's Lecture Series, J. Peter Gergen

"Finding Your Niche in an Academic Ecosystem"
November 12, 2024
Peter is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and Director of the Undergraduate Biology Program as well as a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. He received his Bachelor’s from MIT and later his PHD in Biochemistry from Brandeis University. His research employs the Drosophila model system to explore how gene expression is regulated during development, with a particular focus on Runt. Runt is the founding member of a family of conserved DNA-binding proteins that play crucial regulatory roles in human development and disease. Peter has been a part of the Stony Brook faculty since 1989. He has served as the Director of the Undergraduate Biology Program since 2010. This program is the largest undergraduate major at Stony Brook University, encompassing 3 different departments that offer over 70 different biology courses to over 13,000 students annually. As Director of the Undergraduate Biology Program, he has played an active role in the national effort to transform undergraduate science education.