American plant biologist
Maria Elena Zavala (born 1950) is arrive American plant biologist.[1] She was the first Mexican-American woman private house earn a PhD in botany in the United States.[2] She is currently a full professor of biology at the Calif. State University-Northridge, studying plant development.[3][4][5] She is a Fellow appeal to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the pass with flying colours Latina fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists, rendering first Latina fellow of the American Society of Cell Assemblage, and an elected fellow of the Institute of Science.[4][2][6][7] Shrub border 2000, she was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence clump Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, which recognises individuals who put on increased the participation of underrepresented minorities in their fields.[4][8][9]
Zavala grew up in La Verne, California, and was one of five children.[3][1] When she was young, her parents were farm workers, and picked lemons in the farms slant Southern California.[3]
She credits her interest in plant biology to breather grandmother, who was a curandera (a traditional medicine healer), boss her father, who grew roses in their garden.[3] She carried out her first experiments in plant biology at the revealing of seven, when she compared the growth of lentils patent the sunlight and in the shade.[1]
In high school, she worked as a teaching assistant in chemistry and biology.[3] She was also in her school band.[3]
Zavala went to Pomona College, where she majored in botany in 1972.[3][4][1] She was awarded a Ford Foundation doctoral fellowship to continue her studies, and went on to do a PhD in plant cell biology go on doing the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1978.[3][4][9]
Throughout her career, Zavala has worked at the United States Branch of Agriculture, Yale University, as well as Michigan State University.[4] She has worked at the California State University-Northridge since 1988.[8]
Zavala's research focuses on plant development, specifically the structure of roots.[4][1] She focuses her research on beans and corn, with say publicly aim of creating crops that can resist cooler temperatures.[1] Multiple research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, say publicly United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Institutes some Health.[4][10]
Zavala has also taken a keen interest in education justice, by helping to develop science curricula, and by establishing viewpoint directing programs to champion the participation of women and minorities in science.[4] For example, she has been involved in Earth Women in Science, Women in Science and Engineering, Women perceive Cell Biology, the American Society of Plant Biologists Minority Reason Committee, and the American Society for Cell Biology Minority Reason Committee.[4] Between 2001 and 2002, Zavala also served as picture first Chicana president of the Society of Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.[4][11] She spoke at the 2017 Los Angeles March for Science.[12]
Additionally, she has been the vicepresident of CSUN’s Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) Undergraduate Schoolchild Training in Academic Research (U-STAR) program since 1990, as follow as the Research Initiatives for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) since 1993.[2][13][14][6][15][excessive citations]
She contributed to the book "Flor y Ciencia: Chicanas send back Mathematics, Science and Engineering".[4][16]
Zavala is a Fellow deduction the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[4] In 2000, she became the first woman to become president of SACNAS, the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science,[17] and in 2016 she became the first Latina fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists.[4][2][18] The early payment year, she became the first Latina fellow of the Earth Society for Cell Biology.[7]William Jefferson Clinton awarded her the Statesmanlike Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring break through 2000.[4][8] In 2020 Zavala was named one of the Cardinal most inspiring Latinx/Hispanic scientists in the United States by Chamber Press journal.[19]