Vicki L. Chandler is a plant

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...

, a member of the

National Science Board The National Science Board (NSB) of the United States establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation (NSF) within the framework of applicable national policies set forth by the President of the United States, president and the United ...

and currently the Provost and Chief Academic Officer of

Minerva University Minerva University (formerly Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute) is a private residential university headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was established in 2012 by Ben Nelson using $25million in venture funding from Benc ...

. Her research focuses on

gene silencing Gene silencing is the regulation of gene expression in a cell to prevent the expression of a certain gene. Gene silencing can occur during either Transcription (genetics), transcription or Translation (biology), translation and is often used in res ...

and

paramutation In epigenetics, a paramutation is an interaction between two alleles at a single locus, whereby one allele induces a heritable change in the other allele. The change may be in the pattern of DNA methylation or histone modifications. The allele ind ...

Early life and education

Chandler married at age 17, and divorced at age 19 with two daughters. While working as a secretary, she began attending

Foothill College Foothill College is a public community college in Los Altos Hills, California. It is part of the Foothill–De Anza Community College District. It was founded on January 15, 1957, and offers 84 Associate degree programs, 2 Bachelor's degree p ...

with the intention of studying

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...

. Two years later, she transferred to the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

, where she received a B.A. in

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

and studied under

Randy Schekman Randy Wayne Schekman (born December 30, 1948) is an American cell biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, former editor-in-chief of ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' and former editor of '' Annual Review of Cell an ...

. She completed a PhD in biochemistry at the

University of California San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

in 1983 with

Keith Yamamoto Keith R. Yamamoto (born February 4, 1946) is vice chancellor of science policy and strategy and professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF). He also holds the position of director of UCSF ...

. She then moved to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where she did a postdoctoral fellowship in

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

in the lab of

Virginia Walbot Virginia Walbot (born 1946) is an American agriculturalist and botanist who is a professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University. She investigates maize development with a focus on factors involved in male sterility. Life Walbot firs ...

Career

Chandler was a member of the faculties of the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

and the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

. While at Oregon in 1988, she was named a

Searle Scholar The Searle Scholars Program is a career development award made annually to support 15 young faculty in biomedical research and chemistry at US universities and research centers. The goal of the award is to support to exceptional young scientists wh ...

. In 1997, she moved to the University of Arizona, where she was a Regent’s professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Associate Director of the Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology. Before joining the

Keck Graduate Institute Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) is a private graduate school in Claremont, California, United States. Founded by Henry Riggs and David Galas in 1997, it is the seventh and newest member of the Claremont Colleges. History Henry Riggs, then p ...

in 2015, she was the Chief Program Officer for Science for the

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is an American foundation established by Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore and his wife Betty I. Moore in September 2000 to support scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements ...

, beginning in 2009. She was the Chief Academic Officer and Dean of Faculty at Keck Graduate Institute. Chandler was elected as a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, 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 ...

in 2002. She is also a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. She has also been awarded the Presidential Young Investigator Award, NSF Faculty Award for Women Scientists and Engineers, and NIH Director’s Pioneer Award. She also served on the Life Sciences jury for the

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award granted to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards for researc ...

in 2014. President Obama appointed Chandler to the

in 2014. She served on the board of the Searle Scholars Program from 2010 to 2015. Chandler was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 2015. She has served as 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 of the American Society of Plant Biology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandler, Vicki American geneticists University of Oregon faculty University of Arizona faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of California, San Francisco alumni UC Berkeley College of Chemistry alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people