TCNJ News
For Immediate Release
July 26, 2006
TCNJ Biology Alumnus Elected to National Academy of Sciences
EWING, NJ … Joseph R. Ecker ’78 has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. The announcement was made on April 25, 2006 at the academy’s 143rd annual meeting in Washington, DC. Election to the academy recognizes distinguished and continuing achievements in original research, and is considered one of the highest honors accorded a U.S. scientist.
Ecker, a professor in the Plant Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and director of the Salk Institute Genomic Analysis Laboratory (both in La Jolla, CA), spearheaded the first effort to decipher a plant genome. He is internationally recognized as an authority on the molecular biology and genetics of plants. His pioneering research on the gaseous plant hormone ethylene has yielded fundamental insights into the mechanisms of plant growth control, and has led to the development of technologies that delay fruit ripening and disease processes.
The National Academy of Sciences is an organization of scientists and engineers established by Congress and dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation, signed by Abraham Lincoln, which calls on the Academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology. The academy membership is comprised of approximately 2,000 members and 350 foreign associates, of whom more than 200 have won Nobel Prizes. Visit www.nasonline.org for more.
Steve Klug, professor of biology at the College, chaired the Biology Department from 1974-1994 and remembers Joe Ecker fondly.
“There were five members of the Ecker family, hailing from Trenton, four of whom came through the department. Two have PhDs, one an MD, and one an advance degree in pharmacy,” said Klug. “This story in itself is a wonderful tribute to what [the College’s biology] department has to offer.”
Ecker earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from the College in 1978, and went on to earn a PhD in microbiology at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. He carried out postdoctoral studies at Stanford University. He served on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania from 1987-2000 before joining the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
He has been the recipient of multiple honors, including the Kumho Science International Award in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (2001), the International Plant Growth Substances Association Distinguished Research Award (2004), and the American Society for Plant Molecular Biology Martin Gibbs Medal (2005). He was chosen as the Scientific American 50: Research Leader of the Year in Agriculture in 2004. Ecker currently serves as president of the International Society for Plant Molecular Biology.
About The College of New Jersey
TCNJ currently is ranked as one of the 75 "Most Competitive" schools in the nation by Barron's Profiles of American Colleges, is rated the No. 1 public institution in the northern region of the country by U.S. News & World Report, and is one of Kiplinger's Personal Finance's top educational values in the country. In 2006, the College joined an elite group of institutions when it was awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Fewer than 10 percent of the nation's colleges and universities share this honor.
