Sarah Bottjer

Professor Sarah Bottjer is Chair of the Biological Sciences Department at USC. She has taught undergraduate courses in Introductory Biology and Developmental Biology, and received the Undergraduate Teaching Award from the Torch and Tassel chapter of Mortor Board at the University of Southern California in 1997. Dr. Bottjer maintains an active research program in the area of developmental neuroscience, and has received awards from the McKnight Foundation and the C. and F. Demuth Swiss Medical Research Foundation. Her research is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including a Research Career Development Award from NIH, “Neuronal Mechanisms Underlying Vocal Learning” from 1990-95. She has authored either alone or with other researchers, over 50 articles in professional publications. Her current research focuses on basic mechanisms of neural development, learning, and memory, The goal being to elucidate mechanisms that regulate basic processes of neural development, and in so doing to shed light on factors governing the emergence of a learned behavior.