Miriam Rossi was born in Italy and completed her studies in the USA with a BA in chemistry from Hunter College (NY) while working in the laboratory of Professor David Beveridge, and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD), under the direction of Professors Tom Kistenmacher and Luigi Marzilli. She was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Jenny P. Glusker at the Fox Chase Cancer Center (Philadelphia, PA) before joining the faculty at Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY) as the Mary Landon Sague Professor of Chemistry. Throughout her scientific career, she was fortunate to have outstanding mentors, and she strives to offer the same support to the many talented student researchers passing through her lab. She collaborates with scientists from USA, Italy, Switzerland, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Australia, India, and Thailand. Miriam’s primary research interest is using X-ray crystallographic methods to study the relationship between the molecular structure and the (bio)chemical function of small molecules. Examples include natural plant products arising from foods that show anti-tumor activity; others are strong food antioxidants such as curcumin and resveratrol. She developed and taught a popular food chemistry course at Vassar College. She is active in several professional societies (American Chemical Society, American Crystallographic Association, and Sigma Xi) and is a member of the International Union of Crystallography Commission on Education.