Karen Cone

Cone is a science advisor in the Office of the Assistant Director for Biological Sciences. Her portfolio of responsibilities include programming in biotechnology and the intersection of artificial intelligence and biological sciences, and she is a liaison to the Advisory Committee for Biological Sciences. She previously served as a program director in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences. Prior to joining NSF, Cone was a professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Her research expertise is in plant genetics and genomics, with emphasis on epigenetics and chromatin-mediated regulation of gene expression.