Amy Palmer, wearing a red sweater, stands in front of lab equipment
Director of the Honors Program • Professor of Biochemistry
College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program

Amy Palmer received her B.A. in Chemistry from Dartmouth College in 1994, an M.A. in Education from Stanford University in 2000, and a PhD in Chemistry from Stanford University in 2001. From 2001-2005, Dr. Palmer was an NIH-postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Nobel laureate Roger Y. Tsien at UCSD. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and BioFrontiers Institute, where she has been since 2005. 

The Palmer lab develops new technologies to study the biochemistry of living cells to understand how specific proteins, molecules, and ions contribute to cellular function. The Palmer Lab has published 100+ research papers. Professor Palmer is also passionate about teaching and has developed new courses in General Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, and Biochemistry.  These efforts focus on engaging students in research, active learning, and promoting critical thinking and analytical reasoning. 

Professor Palmer strongly values mentoring, and has trained 14 postdocs, 22 graduate students and 45+ undergraduates.  Professor Palmer is the recipient of a Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship (2010, Chemistry), NSF CAREER award (2010), Ed Stiefel Young Investigator Award in Biological Inorganic Chemistry (2010), NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (2014), Beckman Center Award for Light Sheet Microscopy and Data Science (2021). She is on the editorial board of Biophysical Journal, Cell Chemical Biology, and Biochemistry.

Professor Palmer is thrilled to serve as Faculty Director of the Arts and Sciences Honors Program. Please feel free to reach out if you want to know more about the Program.