Rate My Professor Jennifer Armstrong

Jennifer Armstrong is Professor of Biology and Sidney J. Weinberg, Jr. Chair in Natural Sciences at Scripps College, a position she has held within the W.M. Keck Science Department of the Claremont Colleges since joining the faculty in 2003. She earned a B.S. in biochemistry from New Mexico State University, a Ph.D. in biology from the University of California, San Diego in collaboration with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and completed postdoctoral fellowship training at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Armstrong's research specializes in chromatin structure and gene regulation, employing Drosophila melanogaster as a model system to explore the functions of chromatin remodeling factors such as CHD1, BRM, and ISWI in chromosome organization, histone dynamics, and transcriptional regulation. Her notable publications include "Investigations of CHD1 function in transcription and development of Drosophila melanogaster" (Genetics, 2008), "The Drosophila melanogaster CHD1 chromatin remodeling factor modulates global chromosome structure and counteracts HP1a and H3K9me2" (PLoS One, 2013), "Genetic screens for enhancers of brahma reveal functional interactions between the BRM chromatin-remodeling complex and the delta-notch signal transduction pathway in Drosophila" (Genetics, 2005), "Genetic identification of a network of factors that functionally interact with the nucleosome remodeling ATPase ISWI" (PLoS Genetics, 2008), and "A key role for Chd1 in histone H3 dynamics at the 3' ends of long genes in yeast" (PLoS Genetics, 2012).

In addition to her scholarly contributions, Armstrong has earned prestigious awards including the Mary W. Johnson Faculty Achievement Award in Teaching from Scripps College, the G. David Huntoon Senior Teaching Award from Claremont McKenna College, the 2003 Pitzer Faculty Research Award for "Chromatin Remodeling and the Histone Code," and multiple National Science Foundation grants, culminating in a $450,000 three-year award in 2013 for "RUI: Chromatin Dynamics and Transcription in Drosophila melanogaster." She has mentored over 40 undergraduates, several of whom secured Fulbright Fellowships, and her students have excelled at national conferences, such as second-place undergraduate poster awards at the 2017 Drosophila Research Conference. Administratively, she served as Faculty Director of Scripps College's Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program from 2014, achieving a 98% acceptance rate to medical, dental, or veterinary schools; Associate Dean of Faculty from 2018 to 2023; and Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty from May 2023 to June 2024. Armstrong teaches genetics, cellular biology, introductory biology, epigenetics, and Core courses at Scripps College.