Rate My Professor Sarah Ades

Sarah Ades is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, where she serves as Dean of the Graduate School and Senior Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, a position she assumed in spring 2024. She earned a bachelor's degree in molecular physics and biochemistry from Yale University and a Ph.D. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995. Following her doctoral studies, Ades conducted postdoctoral research at the Institut de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire in Strasbourg, France, from 1995 to 1997, and at the University of California, San Francisco, from 1997 to 2002. In 2002, she joined Pennsylvania State University as an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Eberly College of Science, advancing to associate professor in 2008 and full professor. From 2018 to 2023, she also served as Associate Dean for Graduate Student Affairs in Penn State's Graduate School, advocating for graduate students, developing professional development programs such as career workshops and mentorship training, and leading initiatives like the annual Graduate Exhibition and a graduate teaching certificate program.

An internationally recognized microbiologist, Ades leads a research laboratory investigating how bacteria sense and respond to envelope stress, focusing on communication between the cell envelope and cytoplasm to enable adaptive responses, with applications to antibiotic development. Her laboratory has developed methods to identify small molecules that disrupt these signaling pathways, advancing both basic research and potential new therapeutics. Ades has received the Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation and won the GlaxoSmithKline Discovery Fast Track Competition. Her teaching excellence is evidenced by the Penn State Teaching Fellow Award, the Alumni Association and Student Award for Teaching Excellence, and the C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society. She has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Bacteriology and published research in journals including Molecular Microbiology, Journal of Bacteriology, PLoS One, and PLoS Biology. Ades's contributions span research, teaching, and graduate education leadership, enhancing student success and scientific innovation.