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= Jennifer L. Ross = Dr. Jennifer L. Ross is a professor of physics at University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is currently the Principle Investigator, she is "advancing the understanding of the self-organizational principles of the micro-tubule cytoskeleton via motor proteins and severing enzymes and how that organization affects intracellular transport." Her research focuses on biological systems in order to learn fundamental physics principles of how they are able to act autonomously, specifically the lab focuses on the cytoskeleton. As a Cottrell Scholar, Ross has pioneered innovative teaching techniques for active learning course that have been adopted around the world. She is also an advocate for women and under-represented groups and has a blog to help others make it in academics called “woman of science”.

Education and Awards
In 2000, Dr. Ross graduated summa cum laude from Wellesley College with her Bachelors of Arts Degrees in Physics and Mathematics. . During her undergraduate career, she was awarded the Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium Thesis Fellowship (established by NASA ), the Jerome A Schiff. Fellowship for Thesis Work, and the Phyllis Flemming Physics Prize for Outstanding Physics Major which is presented annually to few Wellesley College physics major graduates for excellence in physics.

In 2004, she graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara with her Doctoral Degree in Physics. There, she focused on biophysics and microtubules. During her graduate career, she was awarded Graduate Assistance in the Areas of National Need (GAANN) Fellowship by U.S. Department of Education and the Ferrando-Fithian Physics Award by University of California, Santa Barbara.

From 2004 to 2007, Dr. Ross worked for Yale Goldman and Erika Holzbaur at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. At this lab, she "pioneered single molecule work on the motor protein cytoplasmic dynein". During her post-doctoral work, she was awarded the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award by the National Institutes of Health.

Professional Career
Dr. Ross became Principle Investigator at Ross Lab in 2007 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and has been running the Lab ever since. Ross Lab focuses on biological physics underlying cellular organization and specifically the micro-tubule cytoskeleton. Her lab has made great advancement in understanding of how active transport proceeds smoothly, particularly in long cells such as neurons where it is vital to their survival. She is also director of the new Massachusetts Center for Autonomous Materials. Not only has she been running the lab that had produced many works on the organization of micro-tubule cytoskeleton and enzymes, but she has been an influence around the world with her innovative techniques on active learning course. Her current projects include BioBootCamp, Eureka! , Cottrell scholars, and Optics for Biophysics. In 2018, she was awarded a $1.1 million NSF grant to investigate the biological and physical underpinnings of cell division alongside cell biologist Patricia Wadsworth.