The NICE PI

About

Shannon with a giant tortoise in the Seychelles

Shannon Olsson has been interested in chemical ecology since she first synthesized a pheromone mimic in her college organic chemistry class. She was trained as a chemist who then fell in love with nature and secretly wants to be an engineer.  This combination creates a mix of chemistry, evolutionary biology, ethology, and neuroengineering in her projects.  Shannon completed her Ph.D. at Cornell University in Neurobiology and Behavior and Chemical Ecology. She then worked at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, as a Project Leader where she collaborated with engineers to develop an artificial chemical communication system based on insect chemical communication. A Fulbright Scholar and Ramanujan Fellow, Dr. Olsson is part of a large effort to promote chemical ecology in India. Her favorite thing about being a scientist is the privilege to observe and learn, every day, something completely new, and the possibility that the something new could make a positive difference in this world. In her career so far, she is most proud of the students and postdocs she has had the honor to work with and learn from. When she is not in the lab or field, she is with her two favorite people, her husband Petter, and her daughter Gracie.

BS
Chemistry, Nazareth College, Rochester, NY, 1999. NYS Provisional Teaching in Science for Grades 5-12, Magna Cum Laude.

PhD
Neurobiology and Behavior, Concentration: Chemical Ecology Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 2005. Thesis: “The Scent of Speciation”. Supervisors: Profs. Thomas Eisner and Wendell L. Roelofs.

Post doctoral visits
2005: Dept. Entomology, Cornell University.
2006-2007: Dept. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA.

Previous employment
2014-2017 Reader, National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR
2007-2014 Project Leader, Dept. Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
2003-2004 Teaching Fellow, Cornell Science Inquiry Partnerships, Cornell University.
2001-2002 Teaching Assistant, Cornell University.
1999-2000 Fulbright Scholar, Lund University, Lund, SE.

Supervised PhD Projects
Linda Kuebler: 2007-2011. PhD June, 2011 Friedrich-Schiller University.
Merid Negash Getahun: 2009-2013. PhD September, 2013, Summa cum laude. Friedrich-Schiller University, co-supervised with Dr. Dieter Wicher.

Postdoctoral/Scientist
Mentorship
Subaharan Kesevan: 2008-2009.
Mahdi Ziaaddini: 2008-2009.
Majid Ghaninia: 2010.
Ayuka Teboh Fombong: 2012-2013.
VS Pragadheesh: 2015-2017.

Address
Shannon B. Olsson, PhD.
Associate Professor
Naturalist-Inspired Chemical Ecology (NICE)
National Center for Biological Sciences
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,
GKVK Campus, Bellary Road,
Bangalore 560 065
India

Email

shannon [at] nice [dot] ncbs [dot] res [dot] in