- Profile
A national leader in science education and research, Muriel Poston is a professor emerita of environmental analysis at Pitzer College, where she had also served as dean of the faculty/vice president for academic affairs. Other influential positions in academia include vice president of strategic initiatives for Claremont McKenna College, dean of faculty and professor of biology at Skidmore College, and professor in the Department of Biology/Botany at Howard University.
Before joining Pitzer, Muriel served as the division director for the Human Resource Division in the Education Directorate at the NSF. During her career, she also served as the division director, deputy division director, and program officer in the Division of Biological Infrastructure in the Biological Sciences Directorate at NSF. Poston was a member and chair of the congressionally mandated Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering, and a member of the NSF Advisory Committee for the Biological Sciences Directorate. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the boards of the Organization for Tropical Studies and the California Botanic Garden. Muriel is also a past member of the board of the American Institute of Biological Sciences.
Poston holds a BA from Stanford University; an MA and a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles; and a JD from the University of Maryland. Her research interests include undergraduate biology education and plant systematics.