Diane Adams a highly valued faculty member in our Department has recently passed away. She was a great colleague and friend to everyone. A committed scientist and teacher she was active in her research and teaching until very recently. Diane received her B.S. in Aquatic Biology (summa cum laude) from University of California Santa Barbara and her Ph.D. from the MIT/Woods Hole Joint Program in Biological Oceanography.
She was a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow from 2012 to 2013. She joined us at Rutgers in 2013 and was reappointed in 2016 as a tenure track Assistant Professor. Prior to her arrival at Rutgers, Dr. Adams had a strong history of fellowships including those from American Association for the Advancement of Science-Science and Technology, United States Agency for International Development (UASAID) and the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Adams was an active researcher who carved out a niche in a new research area of developmental biology focusing on the potential for neural plasticity and evolution to create new metamorphic changes in marine organisms in response to environmental changes. She was a contributing author of USAID’s 2015 Biodiversity Research Agenda. She was a popular teacher in her Department and was a critical contributor in designing new courses in Marine Sciences. Dr. Adams was a firm believer in hands-on teaching and opened her laboratory to students, providing them with invaluable experience in collecting real research data and preparing manuscripts for publication.
A remembrance was held at DMCS on July 14th 2017 in the Marine Science Building. Several have been asking if they can send flowers. However her mother and husband have requested that donations be made in Diane’s memory in lieu of flowers.
For those interested in contributing to the fund in Diane’s name please contact Melissa McKillip at melissa.mckillip@rutgers.edu.