Anne Fausto-Sterling is Professor of Biology and Gender Studies in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University. She is Chair of the Faculty Committee on Science & Technology Studies.

In addition to having served on the Brown faculty for more than 35 years, Anne Fausto-Sterling has been a visiting professor at a number of institutions in the US and abroad in departments of Biology, Medical Science, Gender Studies and Science Studies. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, she has received grants and fellowships in both the sciences and the humanities.

Author of scientific publications in developmental genetics and developmental ecology, Fausto-Sterling has achieved recognition for works that challenge entrenched scientific beliefs while engaging with the general public.

Professor Fausto-Sterling is applying dynamic systems theory to the study of human development. Newspapers are awash with reports of genes for this or that complex human trait (obesity, alcoholism, homosexuality, gender differences in math and science). A great divide exists between people who accept biological explanations of human difference and those who reject biology in favor of social explanations.

Her big ambition is to restructure dichotomous conversations--inside the academy, in public discourse, and ultimately in the framing of social policy--in order to enable an understanding of the inseparability of nature/nurture. Dynamic systems theory permits us to understand how cultural difference becomes bodily difference. Professor Fausto-Sterling's current case studies in this area examine sex differences in bone development and the emergence of gender differences in behavior in early childhood.

For additional biographical information see: Ambrose, Susan A., Dunkle, Kristin L., Lazarus, Barbara B., Nair, Indira, and Harkus, Deborah A. (1997) Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering: No Universal Constants. Temple University Press pp.159-163. Or Current Biography, H. W. Wilson Co., Vol: 66, Num. 9, 2005, pp.30-35.

Professor of Biology
& Gender Studies

Division of Biology & Medicine
Department of Molecular
& Cell Biology & Biochemistry

Chair of the Faculty Committee on Science & Technology Studies.

Visit Professor Fausto-Sterling's Brown Research Profile.

Brown University
Box G-L264
Providence, RI 02912-G
Fax: (401) 863-2109
Email: Anne Fausto-Sterling