Head Honchos

Senior Research Associates 

Grad Shackers

Unbelievable Undergrads

Mascots

Shack Alumni

Life at the Shack

The Head Honchos

Guy and Kim Caldwell

Dr. Guy Caldwell is a tenured Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at The University of Alabama (UA).  In 2015, the Board of Trustees of the UA system bestowed the honor of University Distinguished Research Professor, one of only two faculty to hold this distinction at the time, for which only ten faculty in the history of The University have been honored. 
 
Guy is a past recipient of a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. In 2001, he was also named a Basil O'Connor Scholar of The March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation for his research into childhood birth defects of the brain. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research named him one of its original research grant recipients, worldwide, for work into that movement disorder that affects ~1.5 million people in North America. From 2005-2008, Guy was honored to be named a UA College of Arts & Sciences Leadership Board Fellow.  Prior to arriving at UA in 1999, Guy was a two-time NIH National Research Service Award Fellowship Recipient in the lab of 2008 Nobel Laureate Martin Chalfie at Columbia University.  A classic genetic engineer that somehow taught himself to become a neuroscientist, Guy is occasionally found “doing an experiment” when no one is looking.  For his combined research, teaching and mentorship, he was named a 2005 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for the Advancement of and Support of Education at a special Congressional reception in Washington, D.C..  Guy was also awarded the prestigious 2022 Watkins Visiting Professorship at Wichita State University, a Shocker of a distinction that he now proudly shares with fellow Watkins Visiting Professors,  including Linus Pauling, Jane Goodall, Maurice Wilkins, Melvin Calvin, Carl Djerassi, Leroy Hood, Mario Capecchi, Stephen J. Gould, Niles Eldredge, and others.

Dr. Kim Caldwell is a tenured Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at UA.  Prior to arriving at UA, Kim was a Revson Fellow of The Rockefeller University, and an NIH National Research Service Award Fellowship Recipient during her time at The Rockefeller, and subsequently, Columbia University in New York City.  Kim served as the Director of UA's Howard Hughes Medical Institute Rural Science Scholars Program from 2000-2006.  For her independent research, in 2006, the Movement Disorder Society awarded her the Best Young Investigator Prize at their international meeting in Kyoto, Japan. Kim is also a past recipient of a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation.  Queen of the Shack, a true microscope guru, imaging maven, and genetics genie, Kim is also an award winning teacher, having been named an Education Fellow in the Life Sciences by The National Academy of Sciences, as well as a UA College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Teaching Fellow.   Kim was honored by her alma mater, SUNY Fredonia, with the Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award in 2010. In 2016, Kim was named the first Marilyn Williams Elmore and John Durr Elmore Endowed Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences by the The University of Alabama Board of Trustees.
 
Brainiacs they aren't, but the Drs. Caldwell are also proud to be Adjunct Faculty of the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham’s Department of Neurology and Department of Neurobiology. They are also members of the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence for Research in the Basic Biology of Aging, the Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center and the Center for Neurodegeneration Experimental Therapeutics at UAB.
 
Together, Guy and Kim shared in the inaugural HudsonAlpha Prize for Outstanding Innovation in the Life Sciences, awarded in recognition of the top biomedical science among all research universities in Alabama. They were also joint recipients of the 2008 Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Faculty Award, one of the highest faculty honors at UA.  For better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health…you'd be hard pressed to find these two lab rats apart for very long — and that's the way they love it!  The Caldwells can be typically found tuning out to Green Day in their offices while frequently exclaiming “The Shack Rules”!