Michael F. Summers
{{Short description|American scientist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Michael F. Summers
| fields = Biophysics
Biochemistry
| workplaces = Howard Hughes Medical Institute
University of Maryland Baltimore County
| alma_mater = St. Petersburg Junior College
University of West Florida
Emory University
| thesis_title = Studies of B12 Analogs and Models Containing Bis (dimethylglyoximato) and Bis (salicylidine)-o-phenylenediamine as Equatorial Ligands
| thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/openview/34483b5dac1d1491eb9d9bd81cb06cac/1?cbl=18750&diss=y&pq-origsite=gscholar
| thesis_year = 1984
| doctoral_advisor = Luigi Marzilli
| academic_advisors = Ad Bax
| doctoral_students = Victoria D'Souza
| notable_students =
| known_for = NMR, Role of the Gag protein in RNA recognition, Mentoring Underrepresented Students
| awards = Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Member of National Academy of Sciences
Ruth Kirstein Award
Carl Branden award
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education
Mentor Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Society for Microbiology Hinton Award for Mentoring
Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring
}}
Michael F. Summers is the Robert E. Meyerhoff Chair for Excellence in Research and Mentoring and a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.{{Cite web |title=Michael F. Summers, PhD {{!}} Investigator {{!}} 1994-Present |url=https://www.hhmi.org/scientists/michael-f-summers |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=www.hhmi.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Michael Summers |url=https://chemistry.umbc.edu/faculty/michael-summers/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=chemistry.umbc.edu |language=en-US}} He serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Molecular Biology.{{Cite web |title=Editorial board - Journal of Molecular Biology {{!}} ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-molecular-biology/about/editorial-board |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=www.sciencedirect.com}} Since 1994, he has been a HHMI Investigator as well as a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 2016.{{Cite web |title=Michael F. Summers – NAS |url=https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/michael-f-summers-tqlf4h/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=www.nasonline.org/ |language=en-US}}
Education and early life
Michael F. Summers earned his A.A. degree from St. Petersburg Junior College in 1978, and then a B.S. in chemistry from the University of West Florida in 1980. He then earned his Ph.D. in Bioinorganic Chemistry from Emory University in 1984.
Career and research
From 1984 to 1987, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the NIH under Dr. Adrian Bax.{{Cite web |title=Lab Members - Biophysical Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Section - NIDDK |url=https://www.niddk.nih.gov/research-funding/at-niddk/labs-branches/laboratory-chemical-physics/biophysical-nuclear-magnetic-resonance-spectroscopy-section/members |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases |language=en-US}} Since 1987, he has been a UMBC Faculty member.
His career has focused on using structural approaches to studying protein, RNA, and macromolecular interactions with HIV-1 genome packaging and virus assembly.{{Cite web |title=Howard Hughes Medical Institute @ UMBC |url=http://www.hhmi.umbc.edu |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=www.hhmi.umbc.edu}} He is particularly well known for using NMR. He has also been a major proponent for retaining minority students in the sciences through undergraduate involvement in research as well as involvement with the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.{{Cite web |date=2019-06-07 |title=Q&A: Dr. Michael Summers On The Meyerhoff Scholars Program - UMBC: University Of Maryland, Baltimore County |url=https://umbc.edu/stories/qa-dr-michael-summers-on-the-meyerhoff-scholars-program/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://meyerhoff.umbc.edu/about/history/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=meyerhoff.umbc.edu |language=en-US}} He is also involved with adapting the Meyerhoff Scholars program at other schools with HHMI such as Penn State and UNC.{{Cite web |title=A vaunted program for boosting the diversity of U.S. academic scientists is starting to spread |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/vaunted-program-boosting-diversity-us-academic-scientists-starting-spread |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=www.science.org |language=en}}
References
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Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:University of Maryland, Baltimore County faculty