Sharon R. Long

Sharon Rugel Long (born March 2, 1951) is an American plant biologist. She is the Steere-Pfizer Professor of Biological Science in the Department of Biology at Stanford University, and the Principal Investigator of the Long Laboratory at Stanford. Long studies the symbiosis between bacteria and plants, in particular the relationship of nitrogen-fixing bacteria to legumes. Her work has applications for energy conservation and sustainable agriculture. She is a 1992 MacArthur Fellows Program recipient, and became a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1993. Sharon Rugel Long was born on to Harold Eugene and Florence Jean (Rugel) Long. She attended George Washington High School in Denver, Colorado. Long spent a year at Harvey Mudd College before becoming one of the first women to attend Caltech in September 1970. She completed a double major in biochemistry and French literature in the Independent Studies Program, and obtained her B.S. in 1973. Long went on to study biochemistry and genetics at Yale, receiving her Ph.D. in 1979. She began her research on plants and symbiosis while a postdoc at Frederick M Ausubels lab at Harvard University. Long joined the Stanford University faculty in 1982 as an assistant professor, rising to associate professor in 1987, and full professor in 1992. From 1994-2001 she was also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She currently holds the Steere-Pfizer chair in Biological Sciences at Stanford. From 1993-1996 she was part of the National Research Councils Committee on Undergraduate Science Education. She served as Dean of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University from 2001 to 2007. In September 2008 she was identified as one of 5 science advisors for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. In 2011, she was appointed to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science by President Obama. Long identified and cloned genes that allow bacteria to find and enter certain plants in which they live symbiotically.