Jean E. Schwarzbauer, Ph.D., is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. She is also a member of the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, a core faculty member of the Center’s NIH Tissue Engineering training program, and an Associate member of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Her research focuses on extracellular matrix assembly and cell-matrix interactions in normal and pathogenic situations including cartilage development, kidney fibrosis, tumor formation, and tissue repair and regeneration. She has published more than 125 papers and holds several patents related to her work. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and studied protein-RNA interactions in the bacterial ribosome for her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. After a post-doctoral fellowship at MIT studying the extracellular matrix protein fibronectin, she joined Princeton University as an Assistant Professor in 1986. Professor Schwarzbauer teaches cell biology at the undergraduate and graduate levels and, prior to becoming Associate Chair of the department, she served as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Molecular Biology Program from 2008 - 2013. In addition to her service to the department and the university, Professor Schwarzbauer also contributes to the scientific community with service on numerous boards and panels. She recently completed terms as President of the American Society for Matrix Biology, Secretary of the American Society for Cell Biology, and on the Gordon Research Conferences Board of Trustees. Currently, she is an editor for Molecular Biology of the Cell, associate editor for Matrix Biology, and on the editorial board of the Journal of Cell Biology. Her record of service also includes multiple NIH study sections (including chair of Pathobiochemistry and of Intercellular Interactions), review panels for the Wellcome Trust, ACS, DOD Breast Cancer Program, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, among others, and advisory boards for programs at U. Penn, Cornell University, NSF, and others. She has organized national and international conferences in matrix biology, cell biology, biomaterials, and bioengineering. She is the first recipient of the Peggy Wheelock Award for Excellence in Research, Mentoring, and Promotion of Women in Science at the Univ. of Nebraska Medical Center.