Stephen M. Schuetze 1952-1987
Steve Schuetze joined the faculty at Columbia in 1981. He was promoted to an Associate Professor with tenure in 1987. Steve was an undergraduate at Washington University in St. Louis, where he graduated summa cum laude with dual degrees in electrical engineering and physiological psychology. He obtained his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1978 working with Gerry Fischbach and went on to work with Dan Goodenough at Harvard for his postdoctoral studies.
Steve's scientific career reflected his dual training as an electrical engineer and a biologist. His primary concern was the central problem of how a pre-synaptic nerve influences its post-synaptic target, using the ion channel kinetics of the acetylch oline receptor as a well-defined signpost.
The Stephen Schuetze Memorial Lecture was established in 1987, and has been funded by contributions from friends, colleagues, and students as well as a generous annual contribution from his former wife, Roberta Pollock. The Lectureship seeks to bring y oung neurobiologists to the Columbia community to present their work.