Alan D. Grossman, the Praecis Professor of Biology at MIT, has announced he will step down as the head of the Department of Biology before the start of the next academic year. He will continue to lead the department until the new head is selected. A search committee will convene later this spring to recommend candidates for Grossman’s successor. “Alan Grossman is an outstanding biologist who is, and has been, deeply committed to the research and educational missions of the biology department,” says Nergis Mavalvala, the Curtis and Kathleen Marble…