Deborah Kuchnir Fygenson
Associate Professor of Physics and Biomolecular Science & Engineering
Ph.D., Physics, Princeton Univeristy (1995)
M.A., Physics, Princeton University (1991)
B.Sc., Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1989)
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2001)
NSF CAREER “BioPolymer Physics – Understanding Protein Conformational Change” award (2000)
Jane Coffin Childs Foundation for Medical Research Fellowship (1996)
NSF Graduate Fellowship (1991)
Jean D Apker Award of the American Physical Society (1990)
Deborah K. Fygenson received her undergraduate degree in Physics from MIT, in the course of which she worked with Eric Cornell in the laboratory of Professor David Pritchard performing precision mass measurements using ion cyclotron resonance in a Penning trap. She spent the summer between college and graduate school as an intern at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center. Deborah received a Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University in 1995 under the advisement of Prof. Albert Libchaber. She was Prof. Libchaber’s first student to pursue research in an area related to biology. Her thesis focused on the growth and form of microtubules, dynamic structural elements of the cellular skeleton. Fascinated by the creativity of evolution, Deborah pursued a deeper understanding of biochemistry and molecular biology through post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Professor Myron F. Goodman at the University of Southern California, where she enjoyed a fellowship from the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research. In 1998, she moved to UC Santa Barbara as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics. She has since been promoted to associate professor.