Molecular biologist and geneticist Karen M. McGinnis has won a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation.

McGinnis, who joined the Department of Biological Science in 2008 as part of the university’s Pathways of Excellence initiative, will receive $1,056,978 over the next five years. Using corn, a crop that is vital to the U.S. agricultural economy, she will research how gene expression is controlled and how those controls are passed from one generation to the next.

McGinnis’s award also contains a component dedicated to enhancing science education. “Every experiment in this project will be conducted by postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate trainees,” McGinnis wrote in her proposal. “Emphasis will be placed on excellence in preparation for scientific careers and in mentoring young scientists for success.”

Professor P. Bryant Chase, chair of the biology department, said McGinnis has been a superb addition to the department. “She is highly deserving of the recognition and opportunities that go along with an NSF CAREER Award. What’s more, she is also one of the few young scientists whose proposal to the NSF managed to win this hard-to-get honor the first time around.” To read more, go to http://www.fsu.edu/news/2010/03/29/nsf.award/