John R. Roth

Professor Roth came to the faculty from Berkeley in 1976 because of the opportunities the university presented to integrate undergraduate teaching and research. He has subsequently set a standard for excellence within the Department of Biology. He is internationally distinguished in genetics research, and has taught an elementary genetics course for many years, which is regarded as a showpiece. He took part in a course in advanced bacterial genetics and genetic engineering at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory that attracted a wide variety of students from across the country. He was instrumental in developing academic collaboration between the College of Science and the School of Medicine, leading to the establishment of a combined Graduate Program in Molecular Biology, which is now a national model.

Professor Roth is a previous recipient of the university's Distinguished Research Award, and in 1987 received the first annual Governor's Medal for Science and Technology in the State of Utah. A year later he was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. A letter of nomination for the Rosenblatt Prize says in part: "His teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate level (is) a standard that we would all be most happy to achieve. His selfless caring for his students, his colleagues and his science give him the mantle of natural leadership…"