Research and career
In 2007, Ross joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is interested in the physical laws the determine the organization of proteins and organelles inside cells. To study the mechanisms that underpin biological processes, she developed single-molecule imaging to investigate microtubule motor proteins. These proteins are responsible for the movement of materials and organelles through bodily cells. In nerve cells, materials have to be transported over long distances, and defective transport is associated with neuromuscular disease. Ross images these proteins using a super-resolution microscope and fluorescent tagging. She also created an interdisciplinary optics course to train biologists, engineers and chemists in how design, build and use optical microscopes. Together with Margaret Gardel, Ross was awarded a National Science Foundation INSPIRE award to create phase diagrams of biological processes.
Ross investigates the processes that underpin cell division, in particular, the assembly of microtubules into mitotic spindles. The spindles serve to separate chromosomes and make sure all cells contain the same genetic information. Ross was the first to demonstrate that the shapes of the spindles can be described by the same physics that are used to describe liquid crystalline materials.
Ross has also served in leadership roles. She served as Chair of the Department of Physics at Syracuse University beginning in 2020, as Associate Dean for Creativity, Scholarship, and Research for the College of Art and Sciences, and then as Interim Dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science, both beginning in 2025.
