Swanson, Pearl Pauline, 1895-1980.

Pearl P. Swanson was born September 13, 1895 in Cokato, Minnesota. She received her B.S. (1916) in Home Economics from Carleton College, M.S. (1924) from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. (1930) from Yale University.

Swanson taught high school chemistry (1916-1918) at Faribault, Minnesota. She also held the positions of Instructor of chemistry at Carleton College (1920-1922) and Assistant Professor of nutrition at Montana State College (1924-1027). She joined the Iowa State College (University) faculty as an Associate Professor of food and nution (1930-1936), and was promoted to Professor (1936-1967. Swanson because Assistant Director of the Iowa State Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station (1944-1961), making her the first woman in the United States to hold such a position.

Swanson's research centered on the area of nutrition, including the metabolism of proteins, interrelationships of nutrients, dietary requirements of reproductions, and inorganic salts. She also focused on changes in the diets of women as they age. Her research yielded nearly 90 papers and publications.

Swanson belonged to numerous projessional and scientific societies and honorary organizations, incluing the American Home Econimics Association, American Dietetics Association, Iowa Academy of Science, Phi Kappa Phi, and Omicron Nu. She received several awards and honors, including the Alexander Broune Cox Fellowship at Yale University (1929-1930, ) the Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota (1951), the Borden Award in Nutrition (1955), Faculty Citation from Iowa State (1958), and the Iowa Award of Merit from Gamma Sigma Delta (1961). The Pearl Swanson Graduate Fellowship at Iowa State was named in her honor when she retired in 1961.

Swanson died May 21, 1980.