Joanna C. Chiu, Ph.D., professor of entomology and nematology at the University of California (UC) Davis, was elected as a Fellow in 2025. She is internationally recognized for her research on the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate circadian and seasonal biology and on invasive species genomics.
Chiu is a native of Hong Kong. After high school, she moved to the United States to pursue higher education. She obtained her B.A. magna cum laude in biology and music at Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, and her Ph.D. in biology with a focus in molecular genetics at New York University with Gloria Coruzzi, Ph.D. She performed her postdoctoral research with Isaac Edery, Ph.D., at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers University, in New Jersey. In 2010, she started her independent laboratory at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology as an assistant professor. She was promoted to associate professor in 2016 and to full professor in 2021. She served as vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology from 2016 to 2023 and became chair of the department in 2023.
The Chiu Laboratory investigates the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate insect circadian and seasonal rhythms. Biological rhythms are regulated by the endogenous timers and are critical for organismal adaptation to daily and seasonal changes in their environment. Chiu's research contributed to the understanding of the post-transcriptional/translational mechanisms that regulate the animal circadian clock, the mechanisms that enable the interpretation of environmental and metabolic signals to regulate circadian and seasonal rhythms, and the role of the circadian clock in seasonal adaptations. Her laboratory also leverages genomic approaches to study insect invasion biology and insecticide resistance development with the goal of developing new strategies for controlling agricultural pests.
Chiu received the U.S. National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence Award in 2008, the UC Davis Chancellor's Fellowship in 2018, and the Entomological Society of America Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology Research Award in 2019. She is currently president-elect of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (SRBR) for 2024-2026 and will serve as president of SRBR in 2026-2028.
In addition to her research program, Chiu is dedicated to training the next generation of scientists. She was awarded the 2022 UC Davis Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching and Mentoring Award for her contributions to graduate and professional mentoring, the 2023 UC Davis Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research, and the 2024 Pacific Branch Entomological Society of America Distinction in Student Mentoring Award. She has been serving as the director of the NIH-funded Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program at UC Davis since 2022 to facilitate successful transition of trainees from undergraduate to graduate education. Finally, together with colleagues in her department, she co-founded and co-directs the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology, a long-term mentored research program for undergraduates that has now trained more than 140 undergraduate researchers.