Barbara Schaal

Barbara Schaal

Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences

Barbara Schaal, is the Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biology. She is an evolutionary plant biologist. She is recognized for her studies using DNA sequences to understand evolutionary processes such as gene flow, geographical differentiation, and the domestication of crop species.

Work in her lab focuses on the evolutionary genetics of plants, often in collaboration with staff and students of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Research projects span the range from molecular evolution of genetics, systematics, and quantitative genetics. School studies plant species native to the U.S., tropical crops and their wild relatives, and Arabidopsis.

She was a driving force behind Washington University’s Master of Science in biology degree. WUSTL faculty created and piloted the degree with 90 biology teachers nationwide as a National Science Foundation teacher institute in conjunction with the Institute for School Partnership. The program enables working teachers to earn a master’s degree in biology in two years.

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