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Taekjip Ha Professor Department of Biophysics Johns Hopkins University, USA

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Taekjip Ha Professor Department of Biophysics Johns Hopkins University, USA PRESIDENT-ELECT NOMINEE VOTE FOR ONE Taekjip Ha Professor Department of Biophysics Johns Hopkins University, USA Research Interests: Manipulate and visualize the movements of single molecules the pandemic made it clear that diseases have no borders, talent is everywhere, to understand basic biological processes involving DNA, motor proteins and immigrants are the engine of innovation, and effective communication of science other molecules. Push the limits of single-molecule detection methods to study is essential to gaining trust from the public. protein–nucleic acid and protein-protein complexes and the mechanical regula- tion of their functions. Diversity. Why is it so difficult to improve workforce diversity in science, technol- ogy, engineering and math? I believe that if diversity is of a secondary priority, we Education: BA Physics, Seoul National University, South Korea, 1990; PhD will never make sufficient progress. It should be of the highest priority. Increasing Physics, University of California, Berkeley, 1996. diversity benefits the scientific enterprise by drawing talent from everywhere it exists, and over my career, I have been deeply impressed by how much a single Summary of Professional Experience: Postdoctoral Fellow, Lawrence Berkeley well-trained scientist can accomplish. Increasing diversity is also the right thing National Laboratory, 1997; Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, 1998-2000; to do by making it more likely that the fruits of biophysics research are enjoyed Professor of Physics and Biophysics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham- by all human beings. The pandemic and social justice movements accentuated the paign, 2000-2015; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 2005-pres- problems and opportunities, I will advocate for deeper changes to the Biophysical ent; Co-Director, NSF Physics Frontier Center for the Physics of Living Cells, Society to make diversity and inclusion our number one priority. 2008-2015; Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2015-present. Global reach. Decades ago, the founders of the Society were prescient in not naming it the American Biophysical Society. Talents in biophysics come from Awards, Honors, and Activities: Undergraduate and oversea graduate fellow of every continent and scientific discoveries enabled by biophysical methods touch Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies,1987-1996; Research Innovation Award, all of us regardless of nationality. Already pre-pandemic, the National Lecture Research Corporation, 2001; Searle Scholar, 2001; NSF CAREER Award, 2002; was renamed as the BPS Lecture, the Council added international members, and Fluorescence Young Investigator Award, Biophysical Society, 2003; Cottrell Schol- our current President is from Australia. The pandemic accelerated the ongoing ar, Research Corporation, 2003; Alfred P. Sloan Fellows, 2003; Fellow, American trend of digitization and virtual meetings, and we now have the technologies and Physical Society, 2005; Michael and Kate Bárány Award for Young investigators, experiences to further enhance the global reach of Biophysics and the Biophysical Biophysical Society, 2007; Ho-Am Prize in Science, 2011; Fellow, American Society. Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2015; Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2015; Kazuhito Kinosita Award in Single Molecule Biophysics, Biophysical Soci- Advocacy. Biophysical Society is mobilizing members to communicate the value of ety, 2018; Fellow, Biophysical Society, 2020; Board of Reviewing Editors, Science, biophysics to the public and funding bodies through the development of a toolkit 2011-present; Editorial Committee of Annual Reviews of Biophysics, 2019-present; to help train and equip them. Again, the pandemic gave us a first-hand knowledge Editorial Board of Cell, 2009-2020; Chair, NAS award committee for the Alexan- of how important effective public communication is and gave us an accelerated der Hollaender Award in Biophysics, 2021; co-chair, Gordon Research Con- training on digital tools of networking and discourse that we can deploy in the ference on Single Molecule Approaches to Biology, 2008; NIH Pioneer Award post-pandemic world. Review Panel, 2014 & 2016. On a personal level, I call myself an accidental biophysicist. All my degrees are Biophysical Society Activities: Society member since 1999; Symposium or in physics, and I taught physics at a large public university for fifteen years. Workshop Speaker, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019; Council mem- Everything I know about biophysics, I learned through the Biophysical Society. ber, 2011-2015; Program committee, 2009-2011; Chair, Program committee for The Biophysical Society Annual Meetings are ‘meetings’ in the truest sense to me. the 54th Annual Meeting, 2010; Editorial board, Biophysical Journal, 2007-2013; I spend much of my time in the poster session (we have the most vibrant poster Nominating committee, 2006. sessions of any scientific meeting!), bumping into colleagues, young and old, with a mean free path of about five meters. I ask what is exciting and get a five-minute Candidate’s Statement: What makes the Biophysical Society great are its summary of the latest work of a colleague. It is difficult to replicate such unscript- members. Our members define what Biophysics is by their action, by unlock- ed interactions digitally, and the future success of Biophysics and the Biophysical ing fundamental answers in biology using quantitative methods. We witnessed Society depends on our ability to put together exciting and forward-looking biophysicists rising to the challenge of pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. programs in our Annual Meetings. The Society is already experimenting with The value of rigorous science and scientific methods to humanity has rarely been virtualization of more scripted events such as Workshops that focus on technolo- as self-evident. Biophysical Society’s role is to help its members to become heroes gies, and more member-targeted virtual events will help enhance global exchange of their own scientific endeavors. of knowledge. Change is good and more changes are ahead. I am hopeful we will emerge at the other end of the tunnel, more united and stronger, and I will work As a candidate for President of the Society, I fully endorse the three-pronged hard to repay my debt to the Society as a member, and, if elected, as President. strategic vision developed by the Society leadership: diversity, global reach, and advocacy. Ultimately, we seek to improve human conditions for everyone, and PRESIDENT-ELECT NOMINEE VOTE FOR ONE Arthur G. Palmer, III Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Professor Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Columbia University, USA Research Interests: Fluorescence and NMR spectroscopies; molecular dynamics and enriched my scientific career continue to exist and expand into the future for simulations; structure and dynamics of proteins and other biological macromole- biophysicists across the entire span of their careers. I originally joined the Society cules, including folding, molecular recognition, and catalysis. as a graduate student so that I could present a poster at the Annual Meeting in 1988. As a student, each year was marked by two mileposts: urgency in summer Education: BA (magna cum laude) Chemistry, Haverford College, 1980; MS to finish work in order to write an abstract for the Annual Meeting and inspira- Industrial Health, University of Michigan, 1986; PhD Chemistry, University of tion in winter to use what I had learned at the Annual Meeting. My first poster North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1989. session and first platform talk remain vivid memories and pivotal moments when I realized that I might actually become a scientist. Having found the biophysics Summary of Professional Experience: NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Molecular Biol- community, I stayed. ogy, The Scripps Research Institute, 1989-1992; Assistant Professor, 1992-1998; Associate Professor, 1998-2002; Professor, 2002-2009; Robert Wood Johnson To me, the essence of the Biophysical Society is education, conceived expansive- Jr. Professor, 2009-present, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia ly as activities to provide the support that allows each individual to maximally University; Interim Chair, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia utilize their talents in scientific discovery, now and in ensuing generations. The University, 2003-2009, 2018-present; Vice-Chair, Biochemistry and Molecular meetings sponsored by the Society are obviously educational, in the narrow Biophysics, Columbia University, 2009-2018; Director of NMR Spectroscopy, sense of exchange of information in symposia, oral and poster presentations, and New York Structural Biology Center, 2010-present; Associate Dean for Graduate workshops, but also broadly by inculcating biophysical approaches to science and Affairs, Columbia University Medical Center, 2012-present. by integrating individuals, first as students and postdoctoral scientists, into the discipline. Biophysical Journal and The Biophysicist (and soon Biophysical Reports) Awards, Honors, and Activities: National Science Foundation Postdoctoral are educational; the latter explicitly, and the former implicitly in being a venue Fellow in Chemistry, 1989; Searle Scholar, 1994; American Cancer Society for papers in which results can be accompanied by detailed exegesis of biophysi- Junior Faculty Research Award, 1994; Irma T. Hirschl Career Scientist Award, cal theory
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