Dr. Karen Cone, Acting Division Director 

MCB is excited to announce the return of Dr. Karen Cone to MCB as Acting Division Director, starting in August 2022, while Dr. Theresa Good serves a detail as Acting Deputy Assistant Director in the Biological Sciences Directorate (BIO). 

Most recently, Dr. Cone was a science advisor in the Office of the Assistant Director for BIO. There she led NSF’s activities in Understanding the Rules of Life, coordinated the cross-BIO funding opportunity Integrative Research in Biology, served as the executive secretary for the NSF-wide Bioeconomy Coordinating Committee, and managed the Biological Sciences Advisory Committee.  

Dr. Cone is not new to MCB. She previously served as a program director in the Genetic Mechanisms cluster. During her service, she established herself as an extraordinary colleague and mentor to new PIs in the community and to new Program Directors in MCB. She has also served as the managing program director for the CyVerse cyberinfrastructure collaborative and Acting Deputy Division Director for both the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems and MCB.  

Prior to joining NSF, Dr. Cone was a professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Her research expertise is in plant genetics and genomics, with emphasis on epigenetics and chromatin-mediated regulation of gene expression. 

Per Dr. Cone, “I am excited to have the opportunity to be back in MCB.  I look forward to renewing old relationships and forging new ones.  MCB continues to stand out in BIO in its service to the research community, and I am happy to help support this important mission.” 

Per Dr. Good, “MCB will be in great hands with Karen at the helm.  She is well respected for her leadership and scholarship both inside and outside NSF and has a reputation of innovating in the ways she supports broader impacts.  She is the right person to lead MCB during this transition.  I’m thrilled that she was willing to take on this new responsibility.” 

We are excited to steal Dr. Cone back from the front office – even if only temporarily. We are also looking forward to hearing Dr. Good’s stories and new perspectives once she returns from her detail.