David Mark Kramer

John A. Hannah Distinguished Professors College of Natural Science

• John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor

• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory

Bio

David M. Kramer, professor of biology and Hannah Distinguished Professor in photosynthesis and bioenergetics, is a worldwide leader in using advanced spectroscopic techniques to observe how the machinery of photosynthesis is integrated into plants and algae at the molecular level. Labs around the world now use the photosynthetic tools Kramer and his team of researchers developed to solve critical agricultural problems related to crop productivity and adaptability in a changing environment. Kramer holds joint appointments with the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory.

Kramer received his B.S. in biology and M.S. in cell biology from the University of Dayton, and his Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Illinois. After a postdoctoral fellowship in Paris, France, and a professorship at Washington State University, he accepted the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professorship at MSU in 2010. 

Kramer’s pioneering work was recently recognized with the prestigious American Society of Plant Biologists Charles F. Kettering Award and the International Society of Photosynthesis Research Innovation Award in 2016.