Dr. Allison A. Snow is a professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, & Organismal Biology at Ohio State University and Director of the OSU Undergraduate Research Office, which she founded in 2006. Trained as a plant ecologist at the University of Massachusetts (Ph.D., 1982), she received postdoctoral fellowships from the National Science Foundation (University of California/Davis) and the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Snow’s current research combines molecular and ecological approaches to understand how quickly crop genes move into wild populations, and the extent to which novel transgenic traits could benefit weedy and semiweedy plants. She is the lead author of a position paper by the Ecological Society of America on environmental effects of genetically engineered organisms. To date, she has published more than 90 peer-reviewed papers, and 40 essays, book chapters, or book reviews. In 2002, she received a Distinguished Scholar Award from OSU and was recognized by Scientific American as one of the Top 50 Researchers in Science and Technology. During her 26 years at OSU, she has trained 20 graduate students and many undergraduates, in part through programs she established at the Undergraduate Research Office. Ohio State is now recognized for excellence in undergraduate research by US News and World Reports. Dr. Snow’s professional leadership and public service have been extensive. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, Dr. Snow has served on the editorial boards of Ecology, Ecological Monographs, Evolution, Frontiers in Ecology, and Environmental Biosafety Research; as President of the Botanical Society of America; and as Treasurer of the International Society for Biosafety Research. She also has served as an expert adviser for the US National Academy of Sciences, the US Department of Agriculture, the US Agency for International Development, and the World Trade Organization. In 2010, Dr. Snow advised President Obama’s Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues on the topic of synthetic biology. Her discoveries and expert opinion have been featured in OSU Research News, the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, Nature, Science, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, and other venues.