Slonczewski teaches both biology and science fiction courses. From 1996 through 2008, she has been awarded Howard Hughes Medical Institute funding for undergraduate biological sciences education, which she's used to improve science instruction and to foster summer science fellowships for minority and first-generation students.
She was the Hal Clement Science Speaker in February 2011 at the Boskone 48 convention.
Slonczewski is also a member of the Quakers and Quakerism is featured in many of her novels.[3]
Fiction
Her 1986 Campbell Award-winning novel A Door into Ocean shows her command of genetics and ecological science, as well as her commitment to pacifism and feminism. It depicts the ecosystem of a planet covered entirely by water, inhabited by an exclusively female race of genetic engineers. Daughters of Elysium (1993), The Children Star (1998), and Brain Plague (2000) are loose sequels.[citation needed]
Brain Plague (2000) depicts a world where intelligent microbes inhabit human brains. The microbial aliens have potential for great good as well as great evil. They evolve in the same way as pathogens such as HIV or as symbionts such as our digestive bacteria, which help keep humans healthy. Brain Plague tells of a future in which genetic engineering, combined with nanotechnology, can do everything from shaping our bodies to growing enormous buildings for us. In an interview on her writing Joan related: "One time in class, my students were discussing my book Brain Plague. I asked the class, 'Is this book liberal or conservative?' A student said, 'It's conservative, because all the characters are married.' Another student jumped up, 'It is not conservative!' Half the book's marriages are gay – with a few robots included."[4]
The Highest Frontier (2011) is a coming of age story about the first year in college of Jennifer Ramos Kennedy, a member of the ongoing Kennedy political dynasty. The year is 2108 and Jenny is attending Frontera College, which is located in a space habitation. The earth is being destroyed by human-made ecological catastrophes blamed on the "ultraphytes," UV-photosynthetic plant-animals from outer space. Some political factions are promoting space habitats as a solution, but the spacehabs can only accommodate a tiny percentage of the human population. The political system is grid locked. The Highest Frontier addresses political, social, and environmental issues.[citation needed]
J. L. Slonczewski, John W. Foster and Erik Zinser, 2020, Microbiology: An Evolving Science 5E, a core microbiology textbook for undergraduate science majors, W. W. Norton & Co., New York. ISBN0-393-97857-5
Awards
Robert Tomsich Award, for outstanding achievement in research in science, Kenyon College, 2001.
Silver Medalist, National Professor of the Year program, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Washington DC, 1989.
^Slonczewski, Joan, Curriculum Vitae, Kenyon University, retrieved June 15, 2015
^Higgins, Edward F. (October 18, 2001), "Quaker Ethos as Science Praxis in Joan Slonczewski's A Door into Ocean", Paper Presented at the International Science Fiction Conference