Joan W. Bennett

Joan W. Bennett (September 15, 1942) is a fungal geneticist and Associate Vice-President for Promotion of Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics at Rutgers University. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Career in Fungal Genetics

Professor Joan W. Bennett began her academic career at Tulane University in 1971 where she was the first woman hired in the Biology Department and where she studied the genetics of mycotoxin production in the genus Aspergillus. Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi, which are capable of causing disease and death in humans and other vertebrate animals. Because of their pharmacological activity, some mycotoxins or mycotoxin derivatives are used as antibiotics, growth promotants, and other kinds of pharmaceuticals. Dr. Bennett and her laboratory pioneered research on the genetics and biosynthesis of aflatoxin in collaboration with scientists at the Southern Regional Research Laboratory, a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture in New Orleans, Louisiana. This research provided a useful model for other polyketide secondary metabolites and expanded the possibilities for reducing these poisons in foods and the environment.

Awards

• 2003 - Charles Porter Award from the Society for Industrial Microbiology.
• 2005 - Induction into the National Academy of Sciences.
• 2006 - Alice Evans Award from the American Society for Microbiology.

Women studies

Joan Bennett was also prominent in women studies while at Tulane University, teaching a popular course Biology of Women beginning in 1976. Dr. Bennett joined the Rutgers faculty as the head of the newly formed office of Promotion of Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics in 2006. Catherine N. Duckett works closely with Dr. Bennett as the Associate Director. Joan Bennett's work for promotion of female scientists at Rutgers includes the 'role modeling site', called 'my story' where female scientists from Rutgers tell the stories of how they came to be scientists. This site is significant as there are few sites with as many women's stories from as wide a variety of fields and backgrounds.