Joan W. Bennett is a Professor in the Department of Plant Biology at Rutgers. From 1971-2006, she was a faculty member at Tulane and is trained as a fungal geneticist, focused on genetics, biosynthesis and molecular biology of mycotoxin production in fungi. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Bennett was hired by Rutgers University as an associate vice president in order to establish an office for the Promotion of Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics.

Professor Bennett is a past president of both the American Society for Microbiology and the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, as well as past vice president of the British Mycological Society and the International Union of Microbiological Sciences. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2005 and is currently chair of the Committee on Women in Science, Engineering and Medicine for the National Academies.