R. Scott Hawley (born 1953) is an American
geneticist and investigator at the
Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri, a member of the
US National Academy of sciences and fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
. He has been President of the
Genetics Society of America
The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is a scholarly membership society of more than 5,500 genetics researchers and educators, established in 1931. The Society was formed from the reorganization of the Joint Genetics Sections of the
American Soc ...
, and leads a research team focused on the molecular mechanisms that regulate
chromosome behavior during
meiosis.
Early life and education
Hawley was born in the US Naval Hospital in
Naples, Italy. He graduated from high school in
Castro Valley, California
Castro Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Alameda County, California, United States. At the 2010 census, it was the fifth most populous unincorporated area in California and the twenty-third most populous in the United States. The popula ...
.
He attended the
University of California, Riverside as an undergraduate from 1971 to 1975, and graduated with a degree in biology. Hawley's scientific research as an undergraduate working in the lab of Dean Parker, which culminated in his first scientific publication in 1975.
Hawley did doctoral work with
Larry Sandler at the
University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, where he began his career-long interest in chromosome pairing. After finishing his PhD in 1979, Hawley secured a
Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship
The Helen Hay Whitney Foundation, established in New York in 1943 by Joan Whitney Payson in cooperation with the estate planning of her mother, Helen Hay Whitney (1875–1944), awards the "Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship" for support ...
to study with Kenneth Tartof at the
Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Career
Hawley's was appointed in 1982 as an assistant professor in the Departments of Genetics and Molecular Biology at the
Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He was granted tenure and promoted to an associate professor in 1988. In 1991 he moved his lab to the
University of California, Davis as professor. In 2001 he accepted a position as investigator at the
Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri. In conjunction with this position, he is also a professor of physiology with tenure at the
University of Kansas Medical School in Kansas City, Kansas and an adjunct professor of biology at the
University of Missouri in Kansas City, Missouri. From 2011 to 2019 Hawley served as the dean of the graduate school of the Stowers Institute and now holds the title of founding dean emeritus.
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Scholarship
Using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, Hawley's research is focused on understanding how homologous chromosomes recognize one another, pair, and ultimately segregate from one another during meiosis – the cell division that produces sperm or eggs. His work seeks to gain a deeper mechanistic understanding of the synaptonemal complex
The synaptonemal complex (SC) is a protein structure that forms between homologous chromosomes (two pairs of sister chromatids) during meiosis and is thought to mediate synapsis and recombination during meiosis I in eukaryotes. It is currentl ...
(SC), a larger protein structure that assembles between the chromosomes during meiosis
Contributions to higher education
Hawley has trained over 45 postdoctoral associates and graduate students. In 1989 he was elected to the Davidow Society at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine for excellence in teaching. In 2008 he was the recipient of the Genetics Society of America
The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is a scholarly membership society of more than 5,500 genetics researchers and educators, established in 1931. The Society was formed from the reorganization of the Joint Genetics Sections of the
American Soc ...
's Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Teaching Excellence . In 2012 Hawley founded a new graduate school within the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and now serves as its Dean Emeritus.
Published works
In addition to over 169 research publications, Hawley has also co-authored the following books:
*''The Human Genome: A User's Guide'' by R. Scott Hawley and Catherine Mori (1999, 2005, 2010). Academic Press, San Diego.
*''Drosophila Protocols'' by William S. Sullivan, Michael Ashburner, and R. Scott Hawley (2000). Cold Spring Harbor Press, New York.
*''Advanced Genetic Analysis: Finding Meaning in a Genome'' by R. Scott Hawley and Michelle Walker (2003). Blackwell Publishing, Boston.
*''Drosophila: A Laboratory Handbook'', Second Edition, by Michael Ashburner, Kent Golic, and R. Scott Hawley (2005). Cold Spring Harbor Press, New York.
*''Genetic Theory and Analysis, Finding Meaning in a Genome'' by Danny E. Miller, Angela L. Miller, and R. Scott Hawley (2023). John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken.
Honors
In 1984 Hawley was awarded a Searle Scholarship for his research into chromosome pairing and recombination. In 2001 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
, and in 2006 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his research on the role of heterochromatin
Heterochromatin is a tightly packed form of DNA or '' condensed DNA'', which comes in multiple varieties. These varieties lie on a continue between the two extremes of constitutive heterochromatin and facultative heterochromatin. Both play a role ...
in chromosome pairing. In 2009 and 2010 hr served as the vice president and president respectively, of the Genetics Society of America
The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is a scholarly membership society of more than 5,500 genetics researchers and educators, established in 1931. The Society was formed from the reorganization of the Joint Genetics Sections of the
American Soc ...
. In 2011 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
. In 2013 Hawley was honored with the Genetics Society of America's George W. Beadle Award The George W. Beadle Award is a scientific prize given by the Genetics Society of America to individuals who have made “outstanding contributions” to Genetics. The Award was established in 1999 and named in honor of George Wells Beadle, who won ...
for his service to the community of genetics researchers.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawley, R. Scott
1953 births
American geneticists
Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Cancer Society people
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Living people
University of California, Riverside alumni
University of Washington alumni
Albert Einstein College of Medicine faculty
University of California, Davis faculty
University of Kansas faculty
Stowers Institute for Medical Research people
Searle Scholars Program recipients