Dr. Terry Hwa

Professor

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Biography

Terry Hwa is a Distinguished Professor and the Presidential Chair II in the Department of Physics at the University of California, San Diego, with a joint appointment in the Section of Molecular Biology within the Division of Biological Sciences. He is trained in theoretical physics and initially entered biology to study genomics and biomolecular interactions as well as combinatorial gene regulation. Over the years, he launched a microbiology wet-lab that adopted a unique quantitative approach to examine bacterial physiology. His lab has established a series of bacterial growth laws and formulated principles regarding proteomic resource allocation. The studies from Hwa’s lab have led to a theory of bacterial growth control that quantitatively predicts bacterial behaviors, gene expression, and responses to various environmental and genetic perturbations, which addresses several long-standing mysteries in microbiology. The Hwa lab continues to extend this physiological approach to characterize bacterial species both individually and in a consortium, aiming to uncover the underlying principles that govern the spatiotemporal dynamics of microbial communities and to apply these principles to synthetic biology applications.

Research Interests

Experience

Distinguished Professor

— Present

University of California, San Diego • La Jolla, CA

Joined the physics faculty and launched a microbiology biology wet-lab in the early 2000s.

Awards

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Fellow

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Fellow

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Member

Requirements for University of California, San Diego

Doctorate Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3
TOEFL
Total
Required:85
IELTS
Overall
Required:7
Duolingo
Overall Score
Required:120
Overall
Required:120
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree in physical, biological, or earth sciences, mathematics, or engineering. Differential and integral calculus. One year of calculus-based physics with laboratory. One year of chemistry with laboratory.
Application Checklist
  • Statement of Purpose (max 2 pages)
  • Unofficial transcripts
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Curriculum Vitae (CV)
  • Application fee ($135 domestic / $155 international)
Specialization Notes

Administered by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Curricular groups include Climate-Ocean-Atmosphere (COAP), Geosciences (GEO), and Ocean Biosciences (OBP).