Michael D. Purugganan (bornManila,Philippines in 1963) is aFilipino-American biologist and former journalist. He is the Silver Professor of Biology and the former Dean of Science^[1] ofNew York University (NYU).^[2] Purugganan is also an affiliated faculty member ofNYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD)^[3] and the NYU Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW), and since 2022, has been the director of 19 Washington Square North, the academic space of NYUAD in New York City. He was the former director of the NYU Center for Genomics and Systems Biology in New York (2010-2012) and Abu Dhabi (2012-2017).

Purugganan is a leading authority on plantmolecular evolution and genomics.^[2] His major work has focused on the study ofdomestication and evolution of crop species (including Asian and Africanrice,date palms,barley,Brassica oleracea andmaize).

In June 2013, he was elected to the board of trustees of theAlfred P. Sloan Foundation, and served as the US representative to the Council of Scientists of theHuman Frontier Science Program (2013-2017) and the Biological Sciences Advisory Committee for the US National Science Foundation (2014-2017). In 2018, he was appointed as co-chair of the Carnegie-Mellon University Presidential Advisory Board on Science, and in 2021 became the first Scientist-In-Residence at theAsian Institute of Management.

Purugganan obtained his undergraduate degree in chemistry in 1985 from theUniversity of the Philippines. After finishing his undergraduate work he moved toNew York City and studied atColumbia University, where he obtained an MA in Chemistry (1986) in the laboratory ofJacqueline Barton. In 1993 he graduated with a Ph.D. in Botany (minor in Global Policy) from theUniversity of Georgia, where he studied at the laboratory ofSusan R. Wessler. During his Ph.D. he studied the effects oftransposable element "jumping genes" on the evolution of gene structures^[4] and showed thatregulatory genes evolve quite rapidly at the molecular level.^[5]

Upon completion of his Ph.D. he was awarded anAlfred P. Sloan Foundation molecular evolution fellowship at theUniversity of California, San Diego from 1993 to 1995. In 1995, he joined the faculty ofNorth Carolina State University, where in 2005 he was named the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor.^[6] He was instrumental in promoting the use of the model plantArabidopsis thaliana to study evolution, quantitative genetics and ecology, publishing some of the first studies of DNA sequence diversity^[7] and the genomic mapping of natural phenotype variation in this species.^[8]

In 2006, he joined the faculty ofNew York University, where he was initially appointed as the Dorothy Schiff Professor of Genomics (2006 - 2017) and in 2016 was named a Julius Silver, Roslyn S. Silver, and Enid Silver Winslow Professor (also known as Silver Professor). His work since joining the NYU faculty has focused on the study of the evolution of domesticated species, particularlyrice anddate palms, as well as the evolutionary genomics and systems biology of plant environmental adaptation.

As the New York University Dean of Science (2012-2019), Purugganan oversaw an increase in the NYU science faculty by 20%, and the establishment of several new programs, including the Center for Quantum Phenomena, the Laboratory of Molecular Nanoscience, the joint NYU-Max Planck Center for Language, Music and Emotion, and the NYU Chemical Biology Initiative. He also completed the renovation of ~160,000 square feet of research space for science in the NYU downtown Manhattan campus, including the new facilities for the entire Department of Physics, the extensive renovation of neural science and psychology space (including the Center for Brain Imaging, a new computational neuroscience suite, and new space for Social Psychology), and new computational chemistry and nanoscience facilities in the Department of Chemistry. This period also led to close collaborative ties and joint faculty hires between NYU and theNew York Genome Center and the Simons FoundationFlatiron Institute. With the establishment of NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai, Purugganan helped in faculty hiring, and the planning and development of joint Ph.D. programs and research centers between NYU global campuses.

His tenure as NYU Dean of Science saw a steady increase in the Times Higher Education rankings of NYU in the physical sciences (from 72nd place in 2014 to 41st in 2019) and life sciences (from 54th place in 2015 to 28th place in 2019).

Purugganan has been on the editorial boards of several journals, includingMolecular Biology and Evolution,Trends in Plant Science, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, Molecular Ecology, and Genome Biology and Evolution. Purugganan also serves on the international scientific advisory boards of the Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics in Barcelona, the Philippine Genome Center,^[9] the US Compositae Genome Project,^[10] the Norwegian Aqua Genome Project, and the Genome Canada Sunflower Project.

He is listed in the miscellaneous crew credits of the award-winning 2008 feature-length filmSita Sings the Blues as a genetic engineer,^[11] and served on the Board of Directors of Imagine Science Films. The filmSon of Monarchs was partly filmed in his laboratory, and he served as science adviser for the film The Trees.^[12] Purugganan has contributed to the bookEvolution: The Extended Synthesis (Edited byMassimo Pigliucci andGerd B. Müller, 2010).^[13]

Purugganan led the scientific team that did genetic research onJudean date palms germinated from seeds which were about 2,000 years old.^[14][15]

As an undergraduate at theUniversity of the Philippines in the early 1980s, Purugganan was the features editor for the student newspaperThe Philippine Collegian. In the wake of the assassination of Philippine opposition leaderBenigno Aquino Jr. in 1983, he helped lead the initial news coverage in thePhilippine Collegian documenting the events that eventually led to the downfall of theFerdinand Marcos dictatorship.^[1] After leaving the Collegian, he continued to be active in journalism, working as a news stringer forTime,Newsweek and theAssociated Press. Purugganan in 1984 was offered a position as a foreign correspondent for theAssociated Press Manila Bureau, but had to decline as he still had to complete his university studies.^[16]

He also wrote on politics and economics for various Philippine newsmagazines. In 1984 he was threatened with a libel suit by then Philippine Prime MinisterCesar Virata, a Marcos ally,^[16] for publishing a widely circulated interview in the politically influentialMr & Ms Special Edition in which Virata was quoted as saying "Filipinos never had it so good." Said in the middle of a severe economic crisis and widening poverty, Virata and his quote were harshly criticized by numerous opinion makers as an example of the disconnect between the Marcos government and ordinary Filipinos.^[17]

Since 2011, he has written occasional essays forThe Huffington Post, andThe Philippine Star,GMA News Online, andRappler in the Philippines.

• Visiting Fellow,All Souls College, University of Oxford (2025)
• Member,National Academy of Sciences (elected 2024)
• Astor Visiting Lecturer, University of Oxford (2024)
• Corresponding Member,National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines (elected 2019)
• Fellow,Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (2019)
• Global Professorial Chair, University of Bath, UK (2017)
• Khalifa International Date Palm Award (2015)
• Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow (2011)^[18]
• Ayala Foundation USA/PhilDev Foundation Excellence in Science and Technology (2011)^[19]
• Guggenheim Fellowship (2006–2007)^[20]
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (elected 2005)^[21]
• NC State Alumni Outstanding Faculty Research Award (2003)^[22]
• Sigma Xi Prize (2003)^[23]
• Alfred Sloan Young Investigator Award (1997–2002)

Purugganan is married to Alessandra Pena, a New Yorker with Spanish and Dominican roots who works as a consultant to UN organizations, international NGOs and foundations. They live inGreenwich Village inManhattan.

• NYU faculty page for Michael PuruggananDepartment of Biology
• Video lecture by Purugganan on riceRice Genomics Research for Better Human Life - Michael D. Purugganan, New York University
• "Dr. Michael Purugganan: Global R&D Labs and Capacity-Building: The Case for Joint International Labs".YouTube. PAASE Official. November 12, 2020. (talk from October 2018)