Adam P. Fagen is a Senior Program Officer with the Board on Life Sciences of
the National Research Council. He came to the National Academies from Harvard University,
where he most recently served as Preceptor on Molecular and Cellular Biology. He earned his
Ph.D. in molecular biology and education from Harvard, working with physicist Eric Mazur on
issues related to undergraduate science courses; his research focused on mechanisms for assessing
and enhancing introductory science courses in biology and physics to encourage student learning
and conceptual understanding, including studies of active learning, classroom demonstrations, and
student understanding of genetics vocabulary. Fagen also received an A.M. in molecular and cellular
biology from Harvard, based on laboratory research in molecular evolutionary genetics, and a B.A.
from Swarthmore College with a double-major in biology and mathematics. In addition to genetics
and molecular biology, he is interested in improving undergraduate and graduate science education
and other scientific workforce and policy issues. He served as co-director of the 2000 National
Doctoral Program Survey, an on-line assessment of doctoral programs organized by the National Association
of Graduate-Professional Students, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and completed by over 32,000 students.
Since his arrival at the National Academies in 2003, Fagen has served as study director for Bridges
to Independence: Fostering the Independence of New Investigators in Biomedical Research (2005),
study co-director for Treating Infectious Diseases in a Microbial World: Report of Two Workshops on
Novel Antimicrobial Therapeutics (2006), study co-director for the 2007 and 2008
Amendments to the National Academies' Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (2007, 2008),
study director and co-editor of Understanding Interventions that Encourage Minorities to Pursue
Research Careers: Summary of a Workshop (2007), study co-director for Inspired by Biology: From
Molecules to Materials to Machines (2008), study director for Transforming Agricultural
Education for a Changing World (2009), and study director for Responsible Research with
Biological Select Agents and Toxins (2009). He is currently study director or responsible staff officer
for several ongoing projects including the National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education
in Biology, the National Academies Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee, and Research
at the Intersection of the Physical and Life Sciences.
