Steven McKnight

Steven Lanier McKnight, Ph.D, is a professor and former chair of the department of biochemistry at UT Southwestern. His research is in the area of transcriptional regulation.

McKnight received his bachelor's degree from University of Texas in 1974 and his PhD from University of Virginia in 1977. He was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator from 1988 to 1992.

Criticism

As president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, McKnight published messages in the society's newsletter critical of young scientists, calling them "riff-raff" and saying that "The average scientist today is not of the quality of our predecessors”. He complains that biomedical research now attracts researchers who “never would have survived as scientists in the 1960s and 1970s", and that the funding crisis can be attributed to the NIH review committees being “undoubtedly contaminated by riff-raff”. The month prior, he had derided young scientists for being uninformed on the historic methods of biochemistry. These opinions attracted media attention and criticism from many in the scientific community. Future of Research, an advocacy group led by Jessica Polka that supports junior researchers satirised McKnight's comments by selling "Riff-raff" T-shirts, using the proceeds to fund the 2015 Future of Research conference.

Awards

• 1989 Eli Lilly and Company-Elanco Research Award
• 1991 Award in Molecular Biology of National Academy of Sciences
• 1992 Member of the National Academy of Sciences
• 1992 Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2004 National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award
• 2007 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2014 Wiley Prize