Esther Carpenter
Dr. Esther Carpenter graduated in 1925 from Ohio Wesleyan University where she majored in Zoology. She earned a Ph.D. in Embryology from Yale University in 1932. Her dissertation research on the development of ectodermal head structures in Ambystoma, as determined by vital staining and transplantation, was at the cutting edge of experimental embryology at that time. In 1933 Dr. Carpenter began a long career in the Zoology department at Smith College in Northampton, MA, teaching courses including General Zoology, Histology and Cytology until she retired in 1968. Her research resulted in numerous publications and was conducted with the assistance of occasional grants from the Massachusetts and American Cancer Societies and the National Institutes of Health. Ohio Wesleyan recognized Dr. Carpenter’s contributions by awarding her an honorary D.Sc. in 1956. Throughout her career, she sought out stimulating scientific opportunities. For several summers she did research at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, MA. She was a research assistant in the Department of Embryology at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Later, she held a research fellowship for a year at The Ohio State University. Dr. Carpenter died in 2001 at the age of 98. The Esther Carpenter Award was established as the result of a bequest by Dr. Carpenter to Ohio Wesleyan University.