Dr. Sorina Claudia Popescu

Sorina was born on March 4th, 1969, in Brasov, Romania to Elisabeta and Lazar Cristea. She earned her Master’s degree in Biology at the University of Bucharest, where she met her husband, George Popescu, a physics and engineering student. Together, they weathered the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and the chaos of post-Communist Romania, participating in meetings and marches for liberty and a free society. Their daughter Medeea was born in 1995, and shortly afterward the family emigrated to the United States. The family lived in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Upstate New York as Sorina moved from graduate school to post-doctoral studies and finally to professorship. After 7 years at Cornell, Sorina and George moved to Mississippi State University, where Sorina further developed her research and teaching. Outside of the lab, Sorina loved walking and biking at the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge, watching Nick’s soccer games and tennis matches, spending holidays on the Gulf Coast at the beach, and spending time in the...