Rate My Professor Jane Maienschein

Jane Maienschein is University Professor of History of Science, Regents' Professor, President's Professor, and Parents Association Professor of the Year Chair holder in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, where Biology is her faculty area. As Director of the Center for Biology and Society, she also serves as Faculty Leader for Human Dimensions, Distinguished Sustainability Scientist, and Distinguished Global Futures Scientist. Maienschein specializes in the history and philosophy of biology, exploring how biology, bioethics, and biopolicy intersect with society. Her academic interests encompass developmental biology, embryology, regeneration, complex living systems like cells, science communication, and policy. She has engaged extensively in public outreach through lectures, podcasts, and symposia on stem cells, embryos, gene editing, and the history of science, including TEDx talks and expert testimony in legal cases.

Maienschein received her BA with honors in History, the Arts, and Letters from Yale University in 1972, followed by an MA in 1976 and PhD in 1978 from Indiana University, with her dissertation on the history of embryology supported by fellowships at the Smithsonian and Marine Biological Laboratory. Her prolific scholarship includes influential books such as What is Regeneration? with Kate MacCord (University of Chicago Press, 2022), Embryos Under the Microscope: Diverging Meanings of Life (Harvard University Press, 2014), Whose View of Life? Embryos, Cloning, and Stem Cells (Harvard University Press, 2003, finalist for Independent Publishers Award), and Transforming Traditions in American Biology, 1880-1915 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991). Notable edited volumes feature Why Study Biology by the Sea? with Karl Matlin and Rachel Ankeny (2020) and Visions of Cell Biology with Karl Matlin and Manfred Laubichler (2018). Among her major awards are the 2024 Sarton Medal from the History of Science Society, Regents' Professorship, and numerous teaching honors. Previously serving as senior science advisor to U.S. Congressman Matt Salmon (1997-1998) and director of the Embryo Project, her work profoundly impacts interdisciplinary biology studies and public policy.