Updated at 2:36 p.m., Tuesday, January 29, 2008
MacArthur Fellow Cheryl Hayashi at Iolani Feb. 5
Advertiser Staff
MacArthur Fellow Cheryl Hayashi will return to her alma mater 'Iolani School on Tuesday, Feb. 5 to speak with students on "Spiders, Silks, and Me" and her work as a biologist and associate professor at the University of California-Riverside. Hayashi is also the recipient of a 2007 unrestricted $500,000 genius grant from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to further her research.Hayashi is a biologist working with phylogenetics, biomechanics, and materials science to study the architecture, structure, and function of spider silks.
Some species of spiders produce as many as six different silks, each with specific mechanical properties and functions; the protein structure of these silks consists of highly repetitive amino acid groups.
Hayashi graduated from 'Iolani School in 1985. She received a BS from Yale University and a Ph.D. through a joint program with Yale University and the American Museum of Natural History.
Hayashi was a postdoctoral fellow (1996–2001) at the University of Wyoming and in 2001 became an assistant professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside where she is now an associate professor. Her scientific articles have appeared in such journals as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA and the Journal of Experimental Biology.
She will speak from 10:45 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. in the school's Seto Hall. Open to the public. Seating is limited.
