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Ivana N. Hughes

Director of Frontiers of Science at Columbia University

About me

Ivana Nikolic Hughes is the Director of Frontiers of Science, Columbia’s core science class, and a Senior Lecturer in Discipline in the Department of Chemistry. Ivana graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, with Honors, from Caltech, where she completed her Senior Thesis with Frances Arnold, the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. While at Caltech, she was the recipient of several research fellowships, and conducted research in novel therapeutics at the University of Nis in Serbia, at ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, and at the University of Washington in Seattle. Ivana earned her PhD from Stanford University in 2005, working in the Department of Biochemistry as an American Heart Association Fellow, studying enzymatic catalysis and protein evolution in the alkaline phosphatase superfamily. As the director of the Frontiers of Science course, each semester, Ivana collaborates with faculty and administrators across all ranks and science disciplines on the development of the curriculum.

In addition to her work in Frontiers, Ivana is the Director of the K1 Project – Center for Nuclear Issues. As part of her efforts in K1, Ivana works with undergraduate students and faculty to promote informed debate on the topic of nuclear technologies, via research, writing, and film. Recent work has been featured in LATimes, CNN, FOX News, BBC Mundo, New Zealand Herald, and elsewhere. Her writing has appeared in The Hill, The Diplomat, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Scientific American, and she makes frequent media appearances.